Friends remember attorney Greg Read

Clark County

Discussion

January 20, 2012

He was a public defender for 10 years

By DAVID A. MANN David.Mann@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Fri Jan 20, 2012, 04:22 PM EST

JEFFERSONVILLE — Attorney C. Gregory Read, 63, died Wednesday following years of declining health related to diabetes and emphysema.

Friends remembered the Jeffersonville resident as a caring individual and a sharp legal mind.

“He had a very gruff exterior but he was the kind of person that was extremely sensitive and kind,” said David Mosley, an attorney who worked with him through the years.

Mosley noted he was influential in the fundraising for Bob Hedge Park, a Jeffersonville playground designed with special needs children in mind.

Many came to know Read from his post in the public defender’s office in Clark County during the 1980s and 1990s.

Duard Avery, another longtime friend, remembers Read once drawing a case that involved a black male from Detroit who was charged with rape, burglary and criminal confinement. He managed to get a not guilty verdict from an all white jury that included more than five female jurors, Avery said.

“He was an exceptionally good lawyer.”

In later years he served as the attorney for the Clark County Jail Holding Corp., a building authority that oversaw the expansion of the Michael L. Becher Adult Corrections Complex and the county’s work release center. That expansion, which took the jail from 238 to 444 beds, was wrapped up in April 2007.

“Greg probably saved them a million dollars in costs,” said Avery. When he came onto that board it didn’t have a general contractor, he said. Instead, subcontractors on the job were just submitting claims directly to the authority.

“He knew a lot about budgets, knew a lot about billing. They really tightened things down,” he said.

Read was a graduate of Saint Xavier and the University of Kentucky with a Degree of Juris Doctor.

“He had great judgment, insight,” said Mosley. “He was a great person. He was fearless.”

Avery described him as a fun person to be around, as well.

“He always dated really pretty women. And he liked spirited women,” he said. “Greg always dressed very well, as a southern gentleman.”

A funeral Mass will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Jeffersonville.

He is survived by his mother, Margaret Read, of Jeffersonville; brother, Edward R. (Syd) Read of Louisville; longtime friend, Mary L. Ruiz, of Jeffersonville; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father, E.G. Read.

Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at the church. Expressions of sympathy may be made to the American Red Cross or to St. Augustine Catholic Church. Coots Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.