Press Release
Published on July 8, 2026
Human Rights First mourns the passing of its beloved Chair Emeritus, William D. Zabel, and honors his outsize legacy championing human rights and social justice at home and abroad for over seven decades. A leading lawyer and towering figure in the ongoing quest to expand U.S. civil and human rights protections, Zabel was a guiding light and champion for Human Rights First from its earliest years and chaired its Board for more than 20 years. Zabel wrote the ACLU’s amicus brief in Loving v. Virginia, the case in which the Supreme Court ruled that laws prohibiting interracial marriage were unconstitutional and, in 1969, co-founded Schulte, Roth & Zabel, a leading New York-based law firm.
“Bill was one of a kind,” said Tom Bernstein, Human Rights First’s Chair Emeritus and a longtime friend of Zabel. “He was a lion who put his heart and soul into Human Rights First from day one. Over the next five decades, his joyful advocacy and steadfast commitment to the organization’s work inspired his extensive network of friends and admirers to join him in becoming human rights advocates and Human Rights First supporters.”
Zabel traveled the world on behalf of Human Rights First, participating in fact-finding missions investigating abuses in the Soviet Union, the Philippines, and China. In Pinochet’s Chile, Zabel investigated the disappearances of lawyers and judges and met Judge Carlos Cerda, who was under attack by the regime as the only judge to pursue human rights cases during that time. Zabel secured safe haven for Judge Cerda in the United States. In 1989, as the Iron Curtain came down, Zabel and Bernstein travelled to Moscow to examine the rights situation there. “We had been friends before,” Bernstein recalled. “On that trip, we became comrades.”
Zabel, born in Nebraska to Russian and Romanian immigrants, heard the call to activism early. Senator George McGovern, a friend of his politically-active parents, took him to the Sioux Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge where the brutal conditions left an impression. “Just like the organization he helped found, and to which he contributed so greatly, for Bill, human rights always came first,” said Lynda Clarizio, co-chair of the organization’s board of directors.
While a sophomore at Princeton University, the brutal murder of Emmett Till, and subsequent acquittal of the crime’s perpetrators by an all-white jury, prompted Zabel and his roommate to start a petition urging the Justice Department to prosecute his murderers. The summer of 1964 found Zabel in Mississippi where he was harassed, threatened and shot at by Ku Klux Klan members while he worked to release Black citizens jailed for registering to vote. Quoting his hero, Winston Churchill, Zabel liked to quip that, "Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result."
“Bill’s courageous advocacy has been such an inspiration to me,” said Human Rights First President and CEO, Uzra Zeya. “His fearless example has been a North Star for Human Rights First. Bill believed wholeheartedly that everybody deserves rights, and that injustice could not go unchallenged. And with kindness, generosity, and strength of character, he invited others to join him in the important work of standing up for those rights and advancing justice, here in the United States and all over the world.”
By 1965, Zabel had published an article in The Atlantic, “Interracial Marriage and the Law,” arguing against the constitutionality of laws prohibiting interracial marriage. He went on to write the lead brief on behalf of the ACLU in the Loving v. Virginia case—in which the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1967 that the laws of 16 states prohibiting these marriages were unconstitutional.
“Bill considered his work in Loving as a young lawyer to be a career highlight,” said Donald Donovan, Human Rights First board co-chair. “Even as his legal prowess brought him well-deserved professional success as his career advanced, Bill’s commitment to social justice and his record of accomplishment in private practice were not in tension. He did well, did good, and challenged those around him to do the same.”
At Schulte Roth & Zabel, the firm he co-founded in 1969, Zabel often took on high-profile clients in his specialties of trusts and estates and family law. Zabel was instrumental in helping Human Rights First build its network of law firms that take on asylum cases. Thanks to his leadership, Human Rights First’s pro bono network now encompasses thousands of volunteer lawyers who provided $85 million in free legal services to clients from 83 countries in 2024 alone.
In 2018, Human Rights First renamed its annual award honoring frontline human rights activists to celebrate Zabel’s unwavering commitment to human rights and the organization. Recipients of the award include extraordinary individuals and organizations from across the globe who emulated Zabel’s exceptional courage in defending human rights and advancing justice--from protecting refugees and defending democratic freedoms, to documenting atrocities, advancing accountability, confronting authoritarianism, and standing alongside communities facing persecution and repression.
Michael Posner, Human Rights First Board Member and founding Executive Director, concluded, “Bill's passion for justice took him from Mississippi to Moscow, with many stops along the way. He was a kind and decent man who was an extraordinary champion for human rights. We will miss him greatly.”
