Robert Nix Jr. was the first African American to be elected to statewide office in Pennsylvania, and the first African American chief justice of any state supreme court in the nation. Nix was born on July 13, 1928, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the only child of Ethel Lanier and Robert Nix Sr. His father, Philadelphia’s first African American congressman, gave the eulogy in Congress for President John F. Kennedy. Nix attended a Philadelphia public elementary school and graduated from Central High School in 1946 with the highest honors in his class. He attended Villanova University, majoring in philosophy and graduating as valedictorian in 1950 with his A.B. Nix then attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1953 with his J.D. He then served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955. Nix attended Temple University for postgraduate studies in business administration and economics. After passing the Pennsylvania bar, Nix became a deputy attorney general for the state of Pennsylvania in 1956. Afterward, he went into private practice with his father and a colleague in 1958, forming Nix, Rhodes & Nix. The firm was involved in over three hundred trials, including many important civil rights cases. Early in … Continue reading Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix Jr. (1928–2003)