Arthur Teele

Arthur E. "Art" Teele Jr. (May 14, 1946 – July 27, 2005) was an American lawyer and politician from the Republican Party. In the early 1980s, he served as the head of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (now known as the Federal Transit Administration) from 1981 to 1983. Born into a wealthy black family in Florida, Teele received an excellent education and became an officer in the US Army, and later had a successful career in private practice and politics. The Miami Herald published claims of legal wrongdoing against Teele during his fight to have a conviction against him overturned, after which he killed himself. Posthumously, his case was appealed and his conviction was overturned, exonerating him of all charges. Art Teele married Celestra Patton Teele, of whom he had one son Arthur Patton Teele. (Trey) Teele, later married Stephanie K. Teele of whom he was married upon his death. Military and legal careers Teele was a law student who went into the military after his graduation. Teele served the US Army as a Judge Advocate General on the personal staff of General Henry Emerson, Commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg from July 1975 to June 1977. Teele earned his law degree from Florida State University College of Law. After his honorable discharge from the US Army, Teele provided pro bono services to the defendants in the Wilmington Ten which was the most prominent civil rights case in America during the 1970s. Teele met with the attorneys for the Wilmington Ten as well as attorneys and administrative staff of North Carolina Attorney General Rufus Edmisten. In 1980, the federal courts ordered a new trial for the Wilmington Ten, and Attorney General Edmisten dropped all charges after hearing appeals from Teele and others permitting the Wilmington Ten to go free.