Hugh Gibert, 79, Atlanta corporate attorney for 30 years

By Shane Blatt

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Attorney Hugh Gibert didn’t like to push paper around or settle cases out of court. For him, the thrill of law meant arguing cases before a judge and jury.

A corporate attorney for 30 years, Mr. Gibert would stay up until the wee hours preparing for trial, penning volumes of notes on yellow legal pads and scrutinizing every side of an argument.

“He was a very good litigator,” son Arthur Gibert said. “It was fun for him to find the holes in the other side’s stories and exploit those holes.”

In addition to his competitive streak, Mr. Gibert talked a good game and had a great sense of humor, sometimes poking fun of judges who fell asleep on the bench, son John Gibert said.

“He was usually confident he could run circles around the competition ... and the judges,” he said. “He had that bravado.”

Hugh Waring Gibert, 79, of Atlanta died Friday of heart failure at DeKalb Medical Center. The family is planning a memorial service later in the fall.

Born in 1929, Mr. Gibert grew up in Columbia, S.C. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina in 1951. After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1951 until 1955, Mr. Gibert returned to college, earning law degrees from Emory and Yale universities.

He then taught law at the Universities of Alabama and Texas and, later, at Emory. After almost six years of teaching, he went into private practice in Atlanta, retiring in the mid-1990s.

His early practice focused on capital punishment, voting rights and the First Amendment.

“He was passionate about others’ rights to think as they pleased,” son Arthur Gibert said. That’s why in the mid-1960s, he got involved with the American Civil Liberties Union for Georgia, even serving as president, his son said.

One of his more famous cases involved Julian Bond, who was one of eight blacks elected to the Georgia House in 1965. Fellow representatives refused to seat Mr. Bond because of his opposition to the Vietnam War.

“He had a lot to do with coming up with the defense,” said first wife Mary Evelyn Gibert. 
Mr. Bond was ultimately seated.

As a father, Mr. Gibert had a drive for excellence that rubbed off on his four sons. All are college graduates. Two are attorneys. One is a landscape architect. And one is a professor with a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

“He pushed his sons to find what really appealed to them and what they would be happy doing as well as making a good living,” said Arthur Gibert, the landscape architect.

And he didn’t just excel at the law. His sons say he had an abiding passion for tennis, billiards, bridge, chess, opera and poetry.

Additional survivors include his second wife Anne J. Gibert of Bellingham, Wash; brother Stephen Gibert of McLean, Va.; sons Kenneth Gibert of St. Louis, Mo., and James Gibert of Kennesaw; and five stepchildren and seven grandchildren.