July 2, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Age at death: 46
Major philanthropy job: Co-founder and executive director of the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, an organization that uses lawsuits and other tactics to help poor people and minorities fight pollution in their communities. He established the center shortly after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1989.
How he made his mark: Caroline Farrell, assistant director of the center and its acting executive director, said Mr. Cole believed in a grass-roots approach to helping the center’s clients rather than assuming control. He often stated, “Lawyers should be on tap, not on top.”
Key accomplishments: Mr. Cole led a campaign to stop the spread of large dairy farms in California’s Central Valley, working to force local jurisdictions in California to study how much dairies had harmed the environment and take steps to reduce the damage. He represented Kettleman City, Calif., residents in their successful efforts to stop Chemical Waste Management from building California’s first toxic-waste incinerator in their community. At the time of his death, Mr. Cole represented residents of the Inupiaq Village of Kivalina, in northwest Alaska, in a lawsuit against Red Dog mine, a zinc and lead mine that has been accused of polluting the village’s water supply.
Book he wrote: Mr. Cole was a co-author of From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement.
How he died: Mr. Cole was in a car crash in Uganda while on a sabbatical.
What he did to have fun: A fan of holding root-beer tastings, Mr. Cole enjoyed collecting toy phones, Big Boy figurines, children’s chairs, and spy cameras.
How he will be remembered: “Whatever would help poor people and people of color achieve a better, healthier environment and a better quality of life was okay with him,” Ms. Farrell says. “He had a big, big heart and he shared it with all of us.”
