Martin Sloane

Martin was born in The Bronx on December 11, 1928 to Max and Jenny Sloane. He received a BA in English from NYU and an MA in English from the University of Michigan. In 1952, Martin married his wife of 61 years, Glenda Goldberg Sloane, and entered the PhD program in English at The Ohio State University. In 1953 his studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the army’s Counter Intelligence Corp. After completing his time in the army, Martin and Glenda decided to return to New York to pursue their law degrees at Columbia University Law School. Soon after graduation, they moved to Washington, D.C. where Martin first worked as Special Assistant to the Staff Director of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, a precursor to HUD, then joined Glenda at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights where his work focused on the development of fair housing legislation. From 1973 to 1987 he was General Counsel, then later, Executive Vice President of the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing where he became a leading expert in fair housing, providing pivotal testimony and writing seminal legal articles on the subject. He then worked as an attorney for the General Counsel’s Office of the General Accounting Office. Upon retiring, he continued his work promoting fair housing and civil rights.

Martin is survived by his wife, Glenda, his daughters, Jessica (John Lewando), Amy (George Ennis), and Phoebe (Matthew Schenck), four grandchildren, Julia and Sam Lewando, Theo and Amelia Schenck, and his brother Leon Sloane (Selma), and three nephews. Viewing will be at 10am with funeral services following at 11am on Monday, February 17, 2014 at Gawler’s Funeral Home, 5130 Wisconsin Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. Interment services will be private. In Lieu of Flowers, donations may be made to National Fair Housing Alliance, 1101 Vermont Ave NW, Suite 710; Washington, DC 20005 or www.nationalfairhousing.org

Arrangements under the direction of Joseph Gawler's Sons LLC, Washington, DC.