News Article

Spokane Interplayers Theatre has donated $1,300 to the Carl R. Maxey Scholarship Fund at the Gonzaga University School of Law, the alma mater of the late Spokane attorney and nationally prominent human rights advocate.

The check presentation ceremony was held Wednesday, Feb. 1 near Maxey’s bronze bust outside the Rare Book Room on the first floor of the Chastek Library at the Law School. The money was raised at a matinee benefit performance of Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mocking Bird” on Jan. 16 as a part of the City of Spokane’s celebration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday.

During his more than 40 years as a Spokane trial attorney, Maxey, a 1951 graduate of the Law School, worked tirelessly to represent the disenfranchised and victims of discrimination. He broke down color barriers in Spokane and nationwide. Maxey took on hundreds of pro bono cases for members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Following his death in 1997, the Gonzaga Law School established a scholarship fund for minority students in his name.

Maxey was well known as a trial lawyer and even better known regionally and nationally for his civil rights advocacy. Five different U.S. presidents appointed Maxey as Chair of the Washington State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.

For his work and contributions in law and civil rights, Maxey received the William O. Douglas Bill of Rights Award from the Washington state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union; The Charles A. Goldmark Award from the legal Foundation of Washington and the Gonzaga Law Medal from his alma mater. An NCAA champion boxer at Gonzaga, Maxey was inducted into both the Inland Empire and the Gonzaga Sports Halls of Fame.

The bronze bust was created by artist Dana Kelly, who graduated from Gonzaga University in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.

Mary Ann McCurdy, executive director of the Spokane Interplayers Theatre, presented the donation to Earl Martin, dean of the Law School. Interplayers [www.interplayers.com] is a 25-year-old regional professional theatre, located in the historic Davenport District (the theatre building is listed on state and national registers of historic buildings).

Those wishing to contribute to the fund should send donations to the following address: Carl Maxey Scholarship Fund, Gonzaga University School of Law, 721 N. Cincinnati Street, Spokane, WA 99202.

For more information, please contact GU law Professor John Morey Maurice at (509) 323-3725 or Mary Ann McCurdy at (509) 954-7143.