Michiganians will memorialize the stellar career and life of retired Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Harold Hood on Saturday, May 30, 2015, 10 a.m., at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church located at 18700 James Couzens Hwy. in Detroit.
Judge Hood, a lifetime public servant who served the Detroit metropolitan community as a soldier, an educator and chief judge pro tem of the Michigan Court of Appeals, died on May 5, 2015. He was 84.
A Hamtramck native born on Jan. 14, 1931, Judge Hood earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan before joining the Army and serving in Korea. Upon his discharge from the Army, he attended law school at Wayne State University and graduated in the top 6 percent of his class.
Judge Hood's professional career flourished as indicated by his early academic success. After establishing his own firm, in 1961 he began his first role in public service as assistant corporation counsel for the city of Detroit. Eight years after obtaining that position, he was appointed the first African American to serve as chief assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
His judicial career began with an appointment to the Common Pleas Court for the city of Detroit in 1973. His years of service on the bench included tenures with Detroit Recorder's Court, the 3rd Judicial Circuit Court of Wayne County, and ultimately the Michigan Court of Appeals, to which his was appointed in 1982. He retired in 2003 as chief judge pro tem of the court.
On the vanguard of his lifelong commitment to issues of fairness and equality within the profession, Judge Hood's career as a defender of eradicating bias and discrimination spans to 1987 when he was appointed to chair of the Supreme Court Task Force on Racial and Ethnic Issues in the Courts. The task force issued a report with 122 recommendations to improve the state's legal system by eliminating bias and discrimination. From 1997 to 2002, he partnered with Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly as co-chair of the State Bar of Michigan's Open Justice Commission, charged with implementing the task force's recommendations.
Additionally, Judge Hood served as a community volunteer; as a board member and chair of the Ecumenical Theological Seminary; as a member and past president of the Old Newsboys Goodfellows Fund of Detroit; and he served on the Advisory Commission of the National Institute on Alcoholism and Addictions.
He was bestowed the 2013 Dennis W. Archer Award for Public Service; he was the recipient of the Founders Award from the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in 2011; in 1990 he was honored with the prestigious State Bar of Michigan Champion of Justice Award and the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame Phillip A. Hart Award in 1991.
Judge Hood leaves to cherish his memory his loving wife, Rev. Dr. Lottie Jones Hood; four children Harold K. Hood, Kenneth L. Hood, Kevin J. Hood and Karen T. Hood; one sister, Gloria Lewis and one brother, James Buford; and a host of nieces, nephews, and other relatives, friends and colleagues.
The memorial service is at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church located 18700 James Couzens Hwy in Detroit on Saturday, May 30, 2015 at 10 a.m. The family hour will begin at 9 a.m. Contact Swanson Funeral Home for more information at (313) 923-1122, or (313) 272-9000.
Memorial Contributions can be made to Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Scholarship Fund in c/o Kevin Hood, 300 River Front Drive, Ste. 23K, Detroit, MI 48226.
Published: Mon, May 25, 2015
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