In Grateful Tribute:
J. Gerald (Gerry) Hebert
February 13, 1949 – September 7, 2023
Matt Angle on behalf of all of us at the Lone Star Project
We lost a great friend with the passing of nationally renowned civil and voting rights attorney Gerry Hebert last week. He will be honored by friends and family at a memorial service tomorrow.
Gerry was not only a great friend. He was a great man. A hero in fact. He spent his career applying extraordinary intellect and intense passion to protecting, defending, and championing the fundamental right to be treated equally under the law and to enjoy the rights guaranteed by our Constitution.
What I most admired about Gerry was his ability to devote himself entirely to the call for justice while securing and nurturing the needs of family, friends, and his community. He was brilliant, funny, a raconteur storyteller. Gerry could make you laugh, and he could rally you to righteous battle.
When I was a young man with a hard decision to make, my mother would say, “listen to your better angels.” I’m not sure I’ve known anyone who listened to and followed their better angels closer than Gerry Hebert. Even more though, Gerry knew that to follow the path of better angels, you sometimes had to call on your fiercer angels to assure that justice and good prevailed.
The sadness of loss is greatest, of course, in the immediateness of loss. But as time passes, as sadness of loss gives way to the joy and blessing of knowing and working with Gerry Hebert, I will remember that my mother’s better angels prevail far more often with the help of fiercer angels like Gerry Hebert.
Also be sure to watch the remarks shared by Representative Marc Veasey on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on September 14 or read the text of his speech below.
