Bill Goodman, a trailblazing attorney who spent his career fighting for human rights and civil liberties in Michigan and across the country, died on Friday.

He was 83.

A mentor to civil rights attorneys, Goodman was revered for his decades-long battle against racism, injustice, and constitutional abuses.

“Bill was a legal legend and a true People’s Lawyer,” Michael J. Steinberg, director of the Civil Rights Litigation Initiative at the University of Michigan Law School and former legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, wrote on Facebook, saying Goodman “litigated some of the most important civil rights cases in the country.”

“It’s simply not possible to replace someone like Bill Goodman in the progressive legal community,” Steinberg continued. “I will be forever grateful for the time he took to mentor me and countless others. I will miss him dearly.”

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