W. J. Michael “Mike” Cody, an influential Memphian in the fields of law and politics, died Sunday at the age of 88 at Baptist Memorial Hospital after a lengthy illness.
Cody was well known as a reformer, even before his first tenure in local government as a city councilman from 1975 to 1977. He had been one of the local legal advisers to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968 and had helped King strike down a ban on a second march on behalf of striking sanitation workers, mere hours before the fateful assassination of the civil rights leader.
In the wake of that tragedy, Cody collaborated with the Rev. James Lawson in forming the organization that became Memphis Legal Services.
Cody was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as U.S. Attorney for the Memphis district in 1977 and served through 1981. When Memphis Mayor Wyeth Chandler resigned to become a judge in late 1982, Cody became a candidate in a special election to succeed Chandler.
He would finish a strong third in that race, behind J.O. Patterson and Dick Hackett, the eventual runoff winner. In 1984, Cody, a Democrat, was appointed state Attorney General, across party lines, by Republican Governor Lamar Alexander, serving until 1988.
Cody, a renowned athlete during his college years at Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), was also well known as an inveterate runner who participated in numerous marathons. He was named to the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. He was also the author of a 1992 book, Honest Government: An Ethics Guide to Public Service.
Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen remembered Cody this way: “I knew Mike Cody all of my adult life. He was a highly respected attorney and public official, and was scrupulously honest. He did admirable service for Memphis, Tennessee, and the United States. As Lucius Burch would say, ‘The hair of the hypocrite was not seen about him.’ I extend my sincere condolences. His was a life well-lived.”
Cody is survived by his wife, Suzanna Cody; two daughters, Jane Cody of Corrales, New Mexico, and Mia Cody of Memphis; a son, Michael Cody of Germantown; three grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.
Memorial Park Funeral Home has charge.
