Colleagues remember the late Dr. Alice Green

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Emotions were high at the Center for Law and Justice in Albany on Thursday, a day after the passing of its leader Dr. Alice Green, 84.  A colleague at a press conference in her honor shared that she worked up until the end. 

“This morning, when I woke up, I said it's a world without Dr. Green, and all I could do was remember she said be on time," said Green's colleague of 18 years as he fought tears.

A woman of duality Green was kind —“Gentle giant, she would take the shirt off her back and give it to you" said Center of Law & Justice Director of Operations Ta-Sean Murdock.

Green was also fierce. "You can't be medi— she don't accept mediocre. When I came home [from prison] she's like let me see something you wrote! She's a stickler on professionalism" said Richard Jackson. The now-adult Jackson said Green helped him with legal troubles when he faced a life sentence at age 18.

“Don't get it twisted. When it was time to challenge the status quo, guess what? Dr. Green was challenging that status quo," Murdock later added.

That fierceness, that fighting spirit, was evident when she was arrested for a silent protest during a speech by Governor George Pataki in 1999.

“I just unfurled the banner when he got up to speak and when I did that these troopers rushed me…and carried me out now while I was being carried out I was nosy I have to admit that I said well as long as I'm going to be arrested I might as well shout my message," Green told NEWS10's John Gray in 2021.

If you ask Dewayne Crawford, Dr. Green was the stuff of legends. She and a co-worker helped him through legal troubles nearly 20 years ago.

“Helped me get representation at that time when I couldn't afford it,” Crawford shared. “She gave me law books, she gave me books on Albany," he continued.

And when it comes to legacy officials at the center — the center that Green built — say her legacy will continue.

“For the center, at least temporarily, we will be closed to clients today," said Murdock. “But One thing Dr. Green would say to me, she would say to me, wait a minute why are we closed? What do you mean we're closed” he added.

“I have to continue until I can't. So for me, there is always something to be done” Green said back in 2021.

Officials at the Center for Law and Justice say their work and the cultural center's work will continue. The center’s memorial plans and future leadership are still in development.