Please join us in remembering Percy Lambert, beloved member of Saint Saviour, and former Senior Warden.

Funeral Location: St. James Chapel, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
Funeral Time: 11:00 am, Saturday September 10
There will be a reception afterwards.

COVID Policy: Visitors to the Cathedral must be masked.

Obituary

Beloved Civil Rights Attorney, Harlem Community Activist, and BMCC Professor Dies at 72

Percy L. Lambert, Esq., former attorney with Harlem Teams for Self-Help in New York City and the highest ranking senior member of the Business Management Law faculty at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) passed away at Mt. Sinai Hospital Thursday, August 18, 2022.  

Mr. Lambert was born in Buffalo, NY July 7, 1950.  He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Buffalo and studied law at Rutgers University.  After graduating from law school, he began working as a defense attorney for the Legal Aid Society juvenile rights division where he defended African Americans wrongfully detained in New York jails and prisons.  Mr. Lambert became a well-known community leader

in Harlem during the 1970s and a vociferous former president of the Broadway Democrats upper Westside/Morningside Heights chapter during the 1980s. He was recruited by Mr. Fred Wallace, Esq. to work at Harlem Teams for Self Help; a social services organization for disenfranchised New Yorkers.  Mr. Lambert was also asked to provide legal advice for Scholar, Playwright, Poet and activist Amiri Baraka.

Mid-career, Mr. Lambert became a board member for the Cathedral Park Towers organization after successfully litigating a case against the City of New York to protect the housing rights of Black and Brown community members in Morningside Heights. Most importantly, Professor Lambert was a well-known charismatic member of the Morningside Heights community. 

He was a lifetime member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and held a national office position as past Second District Counselor within the fraternity. He transitioned into law education and taught at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) for over 40 years.  He wrote the well-received book titled The Courts of New York and continued to author several law textbooks and articles. He served as an election observer in South Africa after the fall of apartheid and he led the BMCC CUNY chapter of the faculty and staff union. 

 Mr. Lambert was a passionate practitioner of the law which he used to advance the standing of African Americans throughout New York State. Therefore, he was selected to participate as an adjudicator for the New York City judicial selection process.  As an adjudicator, Mr. Lambert boldly advocated to expandjudicial appointments for BIPOC members of the New York Bar. 

Mr. Lambert is survived by his seven children Eve, Jherusha, Jai-Lin, Ryan, Percy, Jin-Li, and Paul and his six grandchildren Grace, Leila, Celeste, Ryan Jr., Olivia and Paul Jr. and his siblings Paul Lambert, Gabriel Abdelaziz, Gloria Abdelaziz, Julia Abdelaziz. His beloved wife, Mrs. Moyee-Huei Lambert preceded him in death six years ago. 

His family will receive friends, members of the Divine 9, former colleagues and students at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, New York Saturday, September 10, 2022 at 11am.

To make a donation in honor of Mr. Lambert’s life and work please visit the Omega Psi Phi, Kappa Omicron’s scholarship fund at https://www.facebook.com/KOques/ or The Cathedral of St. John the Divine — pbayley@stjohndivine.org