Hundreds gathered to celebrate the life and legacy of celebrated New York attorney Kenneth E. Ramseur, Esq. at the Renaissance Hotel last week. NY Supreme Court Judge Dakota Ramseur, Ramseur’s daughter and only child, led the service.
Ramseur died on July 20 at the age of 77 after battling prostate cancer.
Throughout his career, which spanned five decades as an attorney, Ramseur represented hundreds of litigants in both civil and criminal cases throughout New York City. He also served as counsel to many notable Harlem greats and political leaders, including James Baldwin, Herman “Denny” Farrell Jr., Keith Wright, and Mayor Eric Adams; judges like Milton A. Tingling and Bruce “Cut ’Em Loose” Wright; and jazz legends like Max Roach, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Donald Shirley, and Donald Harrison (who also performed during the memorial).
Ramseur also mentored a number of attorneys, including Anthony “Tony” L. Ricco, Owen H. Lamb, Esq., and his daughter Dakota.
During the memorial, friends and close confidants, including New York County Democratic Leader Keith L.T. Wright, Lamb, and Adams all shared tributes and celebrated Ramseur’s sense of humor, loving nature, and intelligence, as well as how he affected their lives professionally and personally.
“He encouraged me in my darkest moments,” Adams said about his close bond with Ramseur. Adams, who was a client of Ramseur’s for more than 30 years. Ramseur rode the roller-coaster of life to the fullest, “ Adams said. “’Til his last days, he was still Ken.”
Life and career
Born on December 25, 1945, Ramseur grew up in Brooklyn in the NYCHA Gowanus housing projects. He attended Boys High School, now the Boys and Girls School.
After graduating early from Florida A&M University, one of the Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) on both an academic and athletic scholarship, Ramseur chose to return to New York and look after his family, making sure his younger siblings went to college. He was a social worker for the City of New York before eventually receiving his law degree from the North Carolina Central University School of Law and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1976.
Before going into private practice in New York, Ramseur first served as an assistant district attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, then as counsel with the City of New York Office of the Inspector General.
Ramseur married his wife Sheryl, with whom he had their only child, Dakota.
“People left feeling happy. They celebrated his life; [it] was a joyous affair,” Dakota said about the memorial.
Dakota, a Howard University graduate, said her father always emphasized that she did not need to follow his footsteps as a lawyer and to do what made her happy. From a young age, she was surrounded by great legal minds and figures because of her father, including Bruce Wright and “Uncle Jimmy” Baldwin.
“That exposure that Kenneth gave me to people like Judge Bruce White definitely impacted my career as a judge — to make sure that I have courage and I remember that the ultimate goal always is justice for all,” Dakota said.
Owen Lamb, a student of Ramseur’s, began his career in law in 1980, working closely under Ramseur’s tutelage from the age of 19. He would eventually serve as principal law clerk to Wright. During his tribute, he told the story of Ramseur once getting him out of a commitment with the military.
“That guy touched so many people. We’re almost like we’re byproducts of Ken,” Lamb said.
Ramseur’s office at 299 Broadway was considered a “hub” where others would gather and share in dialogue.
“Being around those guys was like being at a seminar about African American history all the time. Imagine being in that bubble,” Lamb said.
In addition to his professional legacy, the importance of family in Ramseur’s life was firmly highlighted during the ceremony, as various family members, including his daughter, nieces, and nephews shared tributes. Ramseur would often hold family reunions in North Carolina.
Ramseur’s grand- and great-grandnieces and -nephews will lay his ashes on their ancestor’s burial ground at their 120th family reunion in August 2025.