September 13, 1999

Determined never to become an invalid, Richard Colburn Butler Sr. committed suicide. Butler’s most famous work as an attorney began in 1956 when he was one of several lawyers retained by the Little Rock School Board to defend the district against a suit filed by the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Butler was also a lawyer, banker, real estate investor, philanthropist, and horticulturist.