When many in the Law School hear the name Kendrick Kennedy, smiles instantly form across their faces. Kennedy, a 2011 graduate of the Ole Miss Law School, died recently due to a short battle with cancer. Kennedy was legally blind and determined to become a lawyer.
“People told him he couldn’t do it,” Phillip Broadhead, clinical professor and director of the criminal appeals program, said. “When I met Kennedy, he absolutely struck me as the most determined and driven person that I’ve ever met.”
Kennedy’s passing was a surprise to the law school family and Broadhead wanted to do something in honor of Kennedy.
(Family members of Kendrick Kennedy, a 2011 graduate of the law school, cement a memorial brick in his honor at the Robert C. Khayat Law Center. | Photo by: Taylor Cook)
“When I heard about [Kennedy’s] passing in September, it became a desire for me to do some sort of remembrance of his time here and his part in the law school family,” Broadhead said.
Yesterday, the law school held a ceremony to celebrate Kennedy’s life. His family received a framing of the poster announcing Kennedy’s participation in oral arguments before the Court of Appeals of the state of Mississippi and a letter from Judge Jimmy Maxwell, who served on the panel of judges during those oral arguments.
“Judge Maxwell became quite close to Kendrick,” Broadhead said. “He wrote a really nice letter to the family explaining who Kendrick was to him.”
Kennedy’s family and friends attended the ceremony along with some of his former professors, Kennedy’s former classmates, friend Evelyn R. Smith remembered .
“One of the most remarkable things about [Kennedy] was that he didn’t let anything stop him or keep him from achieving his goals,” Smith said. “He was just an amazing person. To touch so many lives and advocate for so many people all over the state of Mississippi is what I admire the most about him.”
After graduating from Ole Miss, Kennedy went back home to Gulfport and began practicing law with Conway and Martin Law Firm and was a member of the Magnolia Bar Association.
The law school administration also dedicated a brick in the school’s courtyard to further remember Kendrick.
“Kendrick is our graduate and our friend. His life and his work here [at Ole Miss] will be forever remembered by this brick,” Broadhead said. “Whoever sees this brick may not know his story, but they’ll know his name.”
