William Lozier Sr., 96, lawyer of the people

Back in the day, folks in northeast Atlanta’s Lynwood Park community knew to call William Lozier when they needed legal help.

Known as “Lawyer Lozier,” Mr. Lozier donated many hours to people in one of the oldest black communities in DeKalb County.

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Caregiver Kori Mitchell (right) took William Lozier bowling last year. ‘He was kind of like the dad I didn’t really have. If you spent any time around Mr. Bill, you would be changed,’ Mitchell said.

“As a child, I just knew his name because of all the wonderful things said about him,” said his caregiver and friend, Hazel Truitt Chambers. “Everybody was so crazy about him because of his generosity. He did a lot of pro bono work for the neighborhood. He wouldn’t charge them anything.”

William Franklin Lozier Sr., 96, died Thursday in his home after a long illness. His body was donated to the Emory University School of Medicine at his request. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church.

Mr. Lozier was born in Sandersville. He attended Atlanta’s Tech High and was awarded a full scholarship to Columbia University, completing law school there. He taught business at Georgia Tech and at Georgia State, which is where he met his wife of 66 years, Kathryn “Kay” Tabor Lozier.

After serving as a major in the U.S. Army in Chicago during World War II, Mr. Lozier practiced law in Atlanta for 65 years, first for the law firm of Poole, Pierce and Hall, then in private practice.

Mr. Lozier bought an old house on Lanier Drive near Oglethorpe University, adding to it with his own hands over the years. A path from the Lynwood Park community to the Peachtree Golf Club passed across the Lozier property and was used by caddies at the golf course, said his son John Lozier of Nashville.

The same path soon led to a permanent connection between Mr. Lozier and the people who walked it, as many of them became his clients and friends.

One Lynwood Park resident who had helped out at the Lozier home fell on hard times after losing a leg to diabetes, said Linda Gutherie of Chattanooga, a daughter of Mr. Lozier’s. “Without telling anyone, Daddy paid his property taxes and saved his home,” she said.

Years later, after Mr. Lozier was disabled by a stroke in 2002, the man came back into the family’s life as a caregiver. The amount they could pay him didn’t matter.

“I’ll work for anything,” Mrs. Gutherie said he told family members, “but I will work for your father for the rest of my life.”

The man was true to his word, she said, working at the family home every day until the day before he died several years ago.

Mr. Lozier taught the Friendship Class at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church for 50 years.

Norman Paschall of Buckhead met him at church in 1949.

“He was the type of person you consider a rock, a foundation,” Paschall said. “People who got into trouble would call at all times of night, and he would help them. He gave a car to a person who was working for him. He and his wife made periodic visits to a shelter for abused women to counsel with them.”

Kori Mitchell, a caregiver at the home for the past two years, said Mr. Lozier was an extremely funny man who listened intently to everyone and gave them the best advice he could.

“He was kind of like the dad I didn’t really have,” Mr. Mitchell said. “If you spent any time around Mr. Bill, you would be changed.”

Other survivors include son William Lozier Jr. of Griffin; daughter Kathryn Riddle of Bogart; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.