Jack Greenberg (1924-2016) was a pioneering American civil rights attorney and legal scholar renowned for his leadership in the fight against racial segregation and discrimination. Born on December 22, 1924, in New York City to Romanian Jewish immigrant parents, he grew up in a working-class family in Brooklyn. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II as a quartermaster aboard a submarine tender in the Pacific, an experience that heightened his awareness of racial inequalities. After the war, he pursued higher education at Columbia University, earning an A.B. in 1945 and an LL.B. in 1948. His early career included clerking for federal judges and working as an assistant U.S. attorney before joining the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) in 1949, where he quickly became a key figure under Thurgood Marshall.

Greenberg rose to prominence as Director-Counsel of the LDF from 1961 to 1984, succeeding Marshall and becoming the first white leader of the organization. During his tenure, he argued 40 civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning nearly all, including landmark decisions that advanced desegregation and equal rights. He was part of the team that successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which declared school segregation unconstitutional, and continued to litigate cases like Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education (1969), which mandated immediate desegregation. Under his leadership, the LDF expanded its scope to address voting rights, employment discrimination, and capital punishment disparities. Greenberg's Jewish heritage and outsider perspective within the civil rights movement added unique dimensions to his advocacy, though he faced some internal criticism for his race.

After retiring from the LDF, Greenberg held distinguished academic positions, including as a professor at Columbia Law School and dean from 1989 to 1993. He authored books on civil rights law and received numerous honors, including the Thurgood Marshall Medal of Freedom. Greenberg was married twice, first to Gloria Feingold (with whom he had two children) and later to Cheryl Lynn Greenberg. He passed away on October 12, 2016, in New York City at the age of 91, leaving a legacy as a tireless defender of justice and equality.