Complex Conservative Lawyer Who Fought For CA's Same-Sex Marriage Dies

LOS ANGELES, CA — Theodore B. Olson, a conservative attorney and former U.S. Solicitor General who argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of George W. Bush during the contested 2000 presidential election and later championed the effort to overturn California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, died Wednesday at age 84.

Olson was an attorney in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., with the powerful Gibson Dunn law firm since 1965.

"Ted was a titan of the legal profession and one of the most extraordinary and eloquent advocates of our time," Barbara Becker, chair and managing partner of Gibson Dunn, said in a statement announcing his death. "He was creative, principled, and fearless -- a trailblazing advocate who cared about all people. We mourn his loss profoundly and send our condolences to his wife Lady, a cherished member of our firm family, and to all of Ted's loved ones."

A cause of death was not released. The Washington Post reported he died at a hospital in Falls Church, Virginia.

Earlier this year, Gibson Dunn officials held a ceremony to christen the Theodore B. Olson Moot Courtroom in Los Angeles, "in honor of his pioneering methods of appellate argument preparation and his bold and powerful style of delivery."

According to the firm, Olson argued 65 cases before the Supreme Court during his career, including the Bush-Gore election challenge and in support of the overturning of Proposition 8 in California. He also argued the successful challenge against the Trump administration's effort to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Last week, Californian's voted to add the right for everyone to marry to the state constitution, codifying one of Olson's biggest legal victories as a constitutionally protected right for every Californian.

He served as private counsel to both President George W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan. He was U.S. Solicitor General from 2001-04, and from 1981 to 1984, he was the assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2010, he was named by Time magazine one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Olson was married four times, wedding his fourth wife Lady in 2006 in Napa Valley.

His third wife, Barbara, was a passenger aboard the American Airlines plane that hijackers crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

Fred Ryan, chairman of the board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, said in a statement that Olson was Reagan's "friend and confidant, and that friendship and bond only grew stronger after Ronald Reagan left office."

"The president often credited him for keeping his spirits up when times were tough and President and Mrs. Reagan tried to return the favor when Mr. Olson lost his wife, Barbara, who was onboard the hijacked airplane that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001," Ryan said. "Mrs. Reagan recalled him as being stoic, but she knew from her personal conversations with him that he was a man who had lost an irretrievable piece of his soul at the hands of terrorists."

City News Service, Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.