LEWISTON — Native son Louis Scolnik, community leader, civil rights champion, prominent state jurist and jazz enthusiast has died, leaving a legacy of equal justice for the marginalized, thoughtful jurisprudence and musical excellence.

He died Oct. 10 in Massachusetts at the age of 101, according to his family.

Louis Scolnik submitted photo

Scolnik was born Feb. 14, 1923, in Lewiston, where he attended Bates College after graduating from Lewiston High School.

His parents were Jewish immigrants who fled Kovno, Lithuania, in 1904, to settle in Lewiston.

When Scolnik learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he signed up for the V-12 Navy College Training Program at Bates, which readied him to be a military officer.

In the final year of the war, he served as an officer on LCI(L) 776, an amphibious landing ship, participated in landings in the Philippines and occupation duty in China, ultimately commanding the ship.

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After his service in the U.S. Navy, Scolnik went on to earn his legal degree in 1952 at Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C.

After finishing school, Scolnik returned to Lewiston, where he served for 16 years as the only cooperating attorney in Maine for the national American Civil Liberties Union before co-founding that organization’s Maine chapter in 1968.

Louis Scolnik submitted photo

That state chapter succeeded in litigating cases involving prisoners’ rights, sex discrimination, religion in public schools, and a high school teacher in Belfast who was fired for discussing issues of gender and sexuality as part of a lesson on “Romeo and Juliet.”

“For over 70 years, Justice Scolnik’s unwavering commitment to protecting civil liberties and civil rights helped transform Maine’s legal landscape and made Maine a place where those of all backgrounds and perspectives are welcomed and supported,” the ACLU of Maine said in a statement released Wednesday.

Shenna Bellows, who served as executive director of the state organization before becoming Maine’s secretary of state, said Wednesday that she remembered “Lou” as a constant “source of great advice and humor and support.”

“When I think about Justice Scolnik, I just think about love. He was this combination of brilliant intellect, patience, humor and love for people and civil liberties. He led with love,” she said.

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“He was incredibly warm and caring for everyone, no matter who they were or how far along in their careers,” she said.

“I think he was guided by an incredible sense of ethical values and he believed in the dignity of every human being,” said Nina Scolnik, the oldest of his three daughters.

“When he saw that there were those who were not receiving that, he would be their champion,” she said Wednesday.

After opening his own private practice in 1957, Scolnik served as corporation counsel to the city of Lewiston and legal counsel to the central Maine branch of the NAACP.

He also served as counsel for the Lewiston Housing Authority and the Lewiston Urban Renewal Authority.

In the mid-1960s, Scolnik served as chairman of the Maine Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

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On the commission, he fought to end housing discrimination, including against Black service members stationed at Dow Air Force Base in Bangor who were being blocked from renting or buying adequate housing.

Scolnick was appointed as a justice to the Maine Superior Court in 1974. In 1983, he was promoted to associate justice on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

He retired in 1988 from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, where he was noted for his important dissents from the majority opinions. He later moved to Andover, Massachusetts.

In 1989, the ACLU of Maine established the Justice Louis Scolnik Award, which honored members of the legal community who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the protection of civil liberties.

In 1989, he was presented with the Roger Baldwin Award, named for the late founder of the ACLU, in recognition of Scolnik’s lifetime commitment to civil liberties.

For years, Scolnik regularly attended the annual Justice Louis Scolnik Award dinner, where he would showcase his musical talents on the tenor saxophone, a pastime that harkened back to his teenage years.

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He had played in various dance bands in high school and college and even had a jazz trio on board his naval ship in the Pacific.

His legal, ethical and arts legacy lives on through his family, said Nina Scolnik, who noted that she is a pianist and professor of teaching in the music department at the University of California at Irvine where she also is active in anti-racism initiatives.

Her sister, Donna, earned a master’s degree in expressive arts therapy and works as an actor and dancer.

Another sister, Julie, is a flutist and serves as artistic director of Mistral, Greater Boston Chamber Music Ensemble Series in Massachusetts.

Louis Scolnik’s grandchild, Theodore Jack, is a staff attorney for the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City and previously was a legal fellow at New York University’s Center for Race, Inequality and the Law.

Another grandchild, Sophie Scolnik-Brower, is a professional pianist and social worker in New York City.

A third grandchild, Sash Scolnik-Brower, is associate conductor of Bavaria Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich, Germany.

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