Renowned Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree reveals Alzheimer’s diagnosis
Charles Ogletree, the celebrated Harvard Law School theorist and close confidant of President Obama, announced last week that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
But rather than lament the disease, Ogletree said he was “thankful” for it during a speech to the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia last week.
“It was something I had not anticipated and I didn’t know how to respond to it,” Ogletree, 63, said, according to Religion News Service. “I never imagined that things like my health would slow me down in such a dramatic way. It was, I must admit, a blessing.”
Ogletree said he wanted to speak out in order to bring greater attention to the disease and to the fact that African-Americans are more likely to develop late-onset Alzheimer’s.
“I want to be a spokesperson,” Ogletree told The Boston Globe on Monday. “I want to tell people don’t be afraid of it.”
Ogletree is one of the most prominent theorists on issues of race and justice, and founded the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School. He has penned books on the controversial arrest of professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and on capital punishment in the United States.
Ogletree famously represented Anita Hill during her testimony accusing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of inappropriate sexual behavior. In addition, he taught future First Couple Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson at Harvard Law School and has been a close confidant of the president.
Ogletree currently resides in Cambridge.
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