Who was Charles Ogletree? Harvard Law Professor Dead at 70

Charles Ogletree was a Harvard Law professor who taught both President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama at Harvard. He became a professor at Harvard Law School in 1985. He also was one of the most popular attorneys who became significant after representing famous figures like Tupac Shakur and Anita Hill.

He died on Friday, August 4, 2023, at age 70. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in his 60s, which gradually led to his death. In 2016, he announced that he had been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

Ogletree received the National Conference on Black Lawyers People’s Kaw of the Year Award, the Man of Vision Award, the Museum of Afro-American History, the Albert Sacks-Paul A. Freud Award for Teaching Excellence, Harvard Law School in 1993, and more.

In 2017, the  Charles J. Ogletree Jr. Chair in Race and Criminal Justice was established at Harvard Law School in his honor. He was survived by his wife, Pamela Barnes, and his two children Charles Ogletree and Rashia Ogletree.