On behalf of the State Bar of Georgia, I am writing to extend condolences to the family, colleagues and many friends of longtime Atlanta attorney John F. Sweet on his passing May 24.

A member of the Georgia Bar since 1974, Mr. Sweet was active in the civil rights movement and devoted much of his legal career to pro bono work. He represented injured plaintiffs in workers’ compensation cases and, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, challenged Georgia’s sodomy law in a landmark case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. A leader in the profession and the community, he chaired the State Bar’s Workers’ Compensation Section and served the public as a member of the Atlanta City Council and as chair of the Atlanta Housing Authority.