ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - The Salem/Roanoke County Bar Association reports that Judge George W. Harris, Jr.
Harris was from Roanoke and was a general district court judge of the 23rd Judicial District. Judge Harris retired in 2005 after many years of distinguished public service to the citizens of the Commonwealth.
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Judge Harris was born in Lynchburg, graduated from Dunbar High School in 1955, and attended the University of Virginia for two years as one of the first black students to enroll there. He subsequently transferred to Virginia Union University where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1963.
In 1985 he was appointed as a judge to the 23rd Judicial District, serving for 20 years and earning a reputation for being analytical and firm but very fair. Judge Harris was a member of many professional organizations including the Virginia Bar Association, the Salem/Roanoke County Bar Association, the Roanoke Bar Association, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, the American Judges Association, the American Judicature Society, the Virginia District Court Judges Association, and the Old Dominion Bar Association, of which he was president.
Judge Harris was also involved in the community through his service on the school board of the City of Roanoke and on the boards of the Southwest Virginia Community Development Fund, the Roanoke Valley Council of Community Services, the Hunton YMCA, and the Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley. In the early 1970s, he joined NAACP lawyers in federal court to force Roanoke officials to desegregate the public schools.