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A powerful advocate for peace during the Clinton Administration and a key force behind LAPD reforms following the Rodney King beating, former Secretary of State Warren Christopher died of complications from bladder and kidney cancer late Friday night at his home in Los Angeles. He was 85.
Christopher promoted peace in the Middle East, brokered peace Bosnia, expanded economic ties to Asia, and pushed for reform in Russia, reports KTLA, while here in California "Christopher headed a panel that perpetuated LAPD reforms following the March 1991 Rodney King beating, including installing cameras in patrol cars."
In 1945 Christopher received his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California and before attending Stanford Law School. In 1949 and 1950, he served as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and "became a deputy attorney general in the Lyndon Johnson administration in the late 1960s," reports KTLA. "A loyal democrat, Christopher supervised the contested Florida recount for AL Gore in the 2000 presidential election," as well, in which the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, decided on George W. Bush.
Christopher is survived by his second wife Marie and their three children, Scott, Thomas and Kristen. He also is survived by a daughter from his first marriage, Lynn Collins, and five grandchildren, reports the LA Times.
