When Marc Lawson was president of the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, he was not afraid to mix it up with public officials. During his leadership, which lasted more than 18 years, the mayor, City Council and anyone else who interfered with the professionalism, compensation or safety of the Atlanta Police Department was fair game.
Lawson, who had achieved the rank of sergeant, was outspoken during former Mayor Bill Campbell’s administration on everything from pay to how the department did its job.
Lawson retired from the Atlanta Police Department in 2003, but his fierce advocacy of his comrades in blue had an effect on his career, former Atlanta officer Chip Warren told a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2009.
“Marc Lawson was a homicide sergeant; it’s where the cream of the crop go,” said Warren, who was inaugural president of the IBPO when it was formed in 1985. “But he ended up on zone morning watch and rode his career out in uniform. You have to be willing to take a hit.”
After retirement, Lawson stayed close to labor groups and law enforcement, said Elaine Lawson, his wife of 14 years. He worked with the local branch of the Service Employees International Union, and he was chief of campus police at Spelman College for a period of time.
Marc Ira Lawson of Stone Mountain died suddenly on July 8 from complications of cardiac arrest. He was 61.
A memorial service was held Friday at Jackson Memorial Baptist Church, Atlanta. Cremation Society of Georgia was in charge of arrangements.
Lawson, a Chicago native, came to Atlanta to attend Clark College, his wife said. A high school football star, he played in college too. Elaine Lawson, a former cheerleader at Lawson’s high school, said she and the former football player didn’t date until after their 30th high school reunion.
“We dated long-distance and when we got married, I moved to Atlanta to be with him,” Lawson said. The couple went on to raise two children together, she said.
By the time Elaine Lawson moved to Atlanta, her husband had already established himself in the police department. Marc Lawson graduated from Clark and joined the police department in 1973 through a grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, he told an AJC reporter in 2002. During his time on the police force, Lawson worked in several departments, including the security details of former mayors Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young.
Former mayoral press secretary Pearl Cleage said Lawson was extremely approachable and humble when they met in 1974, the year Jackson took office as Atlanta’s first black mayor.
“He wanted to introduce himself and let me know he would be doing security for the mayor,” she said. “Marc was so able to help me understand the position we were in, and how important it was that we all worked together. He really became a great friend.”
Zaron Burnett, Cleage’s husband, met Lawson in 1984, and remembers the officer as a very straightforward person who was sincere and wanted to help others.
Burnett said Lawson had a mix of qualities rarely seen in one person. “Talking about Marc is almost like talking about somebody who doesn’t exist,” Burnett said. “He was really a very good person in a time where you didn’t find many truly good people.”
In addition to his wife, Lawson is survived by sons Kalfani Lawson and Akil Lawson, both of Atlanta, and McArthur Norris of Riverdale; brother, Keith Lawson of Atlanta; and sisters, Tamara Lawson of California, and Meridith Lawson of Dallas, Texas.
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