February 28, 2006
Apr. 21: 2006 Frohnmayer Award banquet honors Multnomah Circuit Court Judge Clifford Freeman
2006 Frohnmayer Award Banquet Honors
A stern and compassionate judge, Clifford Freeman ’76, has devoted his career to breaking the fall of Oregon’s most troubled citizens and helping those who strive against tough odds.
He will be honored with the 2006 Frohnmayer Award for Public Service at a Portland banquet at 7:00 P.M. on Friday, April 21 at the Embassy Suites, 319 SW Pine Street.
Oregon Appeals Court Judge Ellen Rosenblum ’75, who has known Freeman for thirty years, said, “To me, he personifies the qualities of a good judge, a public servant, and a mentor —he doesn’t seem to be affected by his own considerable power as he goes about living an exemplary life for the good of his community.”
A circuit court judge since 1996, Freeman was in at the beginning of Portland’s Community Courts and presided over them from 1998 until 2002.
He is a civil servant who used his University of Oregon degrees in economics, education, and law to serve others. He has defended the poor and mentally ill; developed education policy for the state; advocated for minority-owned, women-owned, and small business; and advanced the welfare of Oregon youth. He has been a member of many local, state, and national boards and commissions.
Freeman, a Portland native, is currently Oregon’s only African-American state judge.
