Supported the Underdog

Defense attorney and community leader John C. Lowe ’57 was an advocate and an optimist, often performing pro bono work to help those in need during his five-decade career.

“With his help of others with his legal work, he really became threaded into the community,” said his son, Christian, who was impressed as a boy by his father’s willingness to take on tough cases. He said his father accepted meals as payment for legal services, and if his clients needed a place to stay, he brought them home.

Litigating on the local, state, and national stage, Lowe is credited with persuading ground-breaking decisions such as the University of Virginia admitting women in 1970. Two of his biggest cases were the landmark Bigelow vs. Virginia, which established First Amendment protection for advertising, and a case that convinced the Supreme Court of Virginia to strike down the Virginia Riot Act, which allowed police to arrest people congregating in groups of more than two and which was used to arrest 68 anti-war, student protesters in 1970.

Lowe also was involved in the community; he was a longtime director at Camp Faith, a free summer day camp in Virginia known for feeding children thousands of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Lowe graduated high school at 16 and received his degree in chemistry from Lehigh University in 1957. He served in the Army after graduation and left with the rank of captain in 1964.

He earned his law degree at the University of Virginia School of Law three years later. Lowe passed away on Oct. 15, 2017.