Al Evans saw the law as a public service rather than as a means to get rich, but he didn't see practicing as an assistant attorney general as work.
"He loved representing the state and being in that office —- I don't think he ever thought about leaving," said Mark Cohen, an attorney with Troutman Sanders who worked with Mr. Evans at the Georgia Attorney General's office. "He would look at me and say, 'Why would I want to retire? I'm doing what I love to do.' "
Mr. Evans worked for the attorney general for almost 45 years until a stroke sidelined him last year, taking cases to the U.S. Supreme Court at least six times, and becoming the main state lawyer for the Georgia Board of Regents during some of higher-education's most turbulent periods.
"Everyone is so cynical about government and then you meet somebody like Al," said retired Superior Court Judge Stephanie Manis, who tried cases with Mr. Evans as an assistant attorney general. "He really thought what he was doing was the right thing."
Alfred Evans Jr., 80, died April 25. He was drafted into the Army in 1950, just after he graduated from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, and served two years of active duty in the Korean War. In 1956, he earned his law degree from the University of Virginia, and he joined the staff of the Georgia Attorney General in 1963.
Deputy Attorney General Dennis Dunn, who oversaw Mr. Evans in the law department, said his former colleague was often a "go-to guy" for the tough case —- and some of those cases weren't necessarily enviable.
One of his first trips to the Supreme Court was to defend the Legislature's refusal to seat newly elected state Rep. Julian Bond because of his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War and sympathy for draft resisters. Mr. Evans lost his argument to the high court 9-0 when the justices said the refusal to seat Bond violated his First Amendment rights.
Mr. Evans had his victories before the high court and elsewhere. A key success came through avoiding the courtroom altogether, Mr. Dunn said. Mr. Evans worked with the regents and the state's three historically black colleges to incorporate the schools into the system as equal partners, Mr. Dunn said.
"Al was very instrumental in working with the federal government and the governors over the years," Mr. Dunn said. "We were one of the few (Southern) states that ended up with no litigation."
He was a conservative man who believed in the importance of the independence of the attorney general's office, Mr. Cohen said. While he didn't let politics influence his work, he wasn't shy about announcing how he felt about a particular politician, Mr. Cohen said.
He was an avid snow skier and dictator of legal briefs —- at a time when most secretaries were spared from dictation because lawyers have mastered the word processor. Mr. Evans kept to the mode of writing that best suited him.
"He could dictate eight hours a day," Mr. Cohen said. "He dictated every brief he wrote. . . . He took great pride in his writing. He always inserted Biblical references, Shakespearean references and literary references."
Or as Judge Manis phrased it: "He was famous for his very long, erudite briefs."
His funeral will be Tuesday at Holy Innocents' Episcopal Church in Sandy Springs at 11 a.m. Visitation is Monday at H.M Patterson & Son funeral home in Sandy Springs from 6 to 8 p.m.
Survivors include his wife of 40 years, Linda Davis Evans; son, Alfred Lewis Evans III; daughter-in-law, Kelly Robinson Evans; and granddaughter, Anne Davis Evans; as well as his daughter, Maria-Louise Evans Coil; and son-in-law, William Dane Coil.
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