Couple Devotes Life to Civil Rights

Lanie Fleischer was named to the Alaskan Women’s Hall of Fame, and Hugh Fleischer received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alaskan ACLU. (Courtesy Photo)

Lanie, AB ’60, and Hugh Fleischer, AB ’61, make a special couple, and not just because they’ve been married for 50 years and live in Alaska. The dynamic duo devotes their lives to promoting civil rights and social justice.

Lanie was named to the Alaskan Women’s Hall of Fame in January, and Hugh received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alaskan ACLU.

Hugh, who has his own law firm, represents plaintiffs, most often minorities experiencing ­employment problems, as well as representing criminal defendants.

Lanie was the executive director for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Anchorage for 15 years, expanding it from a program of 45 matches to one with hundreds in several more towns across Alaska. She is known as the mother of Anchorage’s popular trail system, having spent her first years there ­advocating for a multi-use trail system that now covers more than 100 miles city-wide. The “Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail” follows a greenbelt six miles.

“The highlight of Lanie’s career was seeing a kid who was going nowhere but down get a Big Brother and go nowhere but up and just be a successful student,” Hugh says.

And the Fleischers, both political science ­majors, credit their experience at the university for encouraging their civic-mindedness. Hugh was the co-chair of ­Campus Y, and Lanie was also active there.

“Hugh and his co-chair were instrumental in steering Campus Y toward civil rights and justice programs,” Lanie says. “What we found at the university was a solid basis for our understanding of political history and the rights of human beings. I credit the university in large part for making me who I am today.”

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