A crowd of lawyers and judges paid tribute to the State Bar of Georgia’s longtime executive director, Cliff Brashier, at a memorial service on Jan. 8 at the bar’s Marietta Street headquarters.

Brashier died unexpectedly on Dec. 20 of complications from esophageal cancer. His death at age 69 was a shock to his many friends at the bar and in the Georgia legal community who, like Brashier, believed he would overcome the disease.