Foundation honors Emmanuel and Orr
Foundation honors Emmanuel and Orr The Florida Bar Foundation’s 2001 Medal of Honor was presented to former Bar President Patrick G. Emmanuel and posthumously to John B. Orr, a former Florida state representative, for improving the administration of justice.The awards were presented June 21 during the Foundation’s 25th Annual Dinner at The Florida Bar’s Annual Meeting in Orlando.“The Foundation bestows its medal of honor upon individuals exemplifying principles embraced by the Foundation,” said A. Hamilton Cooke, Foundation president.“This year’s recipients are Patrick Emmanuel, whose countless hours of legal service to indigent residents have touched the lives of many, and former Florida state Rep. John Orr, whose courage to stand against segregation in the 1950s earned him a place in history.”Emmanuel is a graduate of the University of Florida College of Law and a senior partner with Emmanuel, Sheppard & Condon in Pensacola. Emmanuel has been a member of The Florida Bar since 1946 and has served the Bar in numerous capacities. He was on the Bar’s Board of Governors for over 10 years and was its representative to the Federal Appellate Judges Conferences. Emmanuel was the Bar’s president from 1985 to 1986, when he received an award from Florida’s legal services community for assisting the state’s indigent.In 1987, Emmanuel received the President’s Pro Bono Service Award from the Bar for giving legal assistance to the poor. He is also a past president of the Bar Foundation and a past member and chair of the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission of Florida.On a national level, Emmanuel has been recognized as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and a fellow of the American Bar Association. He has served as a delegate of The Florida Bar to the ABA House of Delegates, a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Professional Discipline, and a member of the President’s Club of the American Bar Foundation for Justice and Education.John Orr Orr, a graduate of the University of Florida College of Law, was elected in 1954 at the age of 36 to the Florida House of Representatives and served two terms. In 1956, the Florida Legislature was in special session to pass legislation introduced in defiance of the United States Supreme Court’s decision to desegregate schools. Orr voted against school segregation, and subsequently, delivered a speech on the floor of the House where he stated, “I believe segregation is morally wrong.”In 1958, he was defeated in the Democratic primary by a rival who ran as a segregationist and made Orr’s stand the issue. The last office Orr held was in 1972 when he was elected mayor of Metropolitan Dade County. He died two years later.“We honor John Orr tonight. . . for the most singularly courageous political act in Florida’s modern history,” Cooke said.According to his son, Tom Orr, who accepted the award on his father’s behalf, Orr established and lived by his own moral code, and was often quoted as saying, “It is better to fail in a just cause that will ultimately succeed, than to succeed in an unjust cause that will ultimately fail.”“His legacy is his courage to do what he believed was right,” said Tom Orr, who added his father’s life continues to impact others, including St. Petersburg Times Associate Editor Martin Dyckman.Dyckman, who nominated Orr for the Foundation’s Medal of Honor, said to read Orr’s speech today is to marvel that it was even controversial, let alone the eventual ruination of his legislative career, “but that is how things were.”“But for his courageous example, and the courage of at first a few, then many more, things might still be that way,” Dyckman said,For more information about The Florida Bar Foundation or its medal of honor awards, call (800) 541-2195. Foundation honors Emmanuel and Orr “I am most appreciative of the honor given to me by The Florida Bar Foundation,” Emmanuel said. “Those members of the legal profession who received this award in prior years were great leaders and worked to improve the administration of justice in our state. I commend the Foundation for its continuing activities to assist those in need of legal services and the improvement of our legal system.” Patrick Emmanuel August 1, 2001 Regular News