Eric Holder

Holder's father, Eric Himpton Holder Sr. (October 29, 1903 – February 12, 1998), was born in Saint Joseph, Barbados, and arrived in the United States at the age of 11.

He later became a real estate broker.

His mother, Miriam (January 25, 1924 – August 13, 2010), was born in New Jersey, while his maternal grandparents were emigrants from Saint Philip, Barbados.

Holder grew up in East Elmhurst, Queens, and attended public school until the age of 10.

When entering the 4th grade he was selected to participate in a program for intellectually gifted Black students.

Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd United States attorney general from 2009 to 2015.

A member of the Democratic Party, Holder was the first African American to hold the position.

Born in New York City to a middle-class family of Barbadian origin, Holder graduated from Stuyvesant High School, Columbia College, and Columbia Law School.

Following law school, he worked for the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice for twelve years.

He next served as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before being appointed by President Bill Clinton as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and subsequently U.S. deputy attorney general.

Holder prosecuted cases involving government corruption.

While U.S. attorney, he prosecuted congressman Dan Rostenkowski for corruption charges related to his role in the Congressional Post Office scandal.

Following the Clinton administration, he worked at Covington & Burling, representing the firm's multinational corporate clients in litigation.

In 1969, he graduated from Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and attended Columbia University, where he played freshman basketball and football, and was a teammate of actor Ed Harris.

During that time, he lived in Carman Hall.

In 1969, while a freshman at Columbia, Holder was one of several dozen students who staged an occupation of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps office, renaming it as the Malcolm X student center.

He earned a B.A. degree in American history in 1973.

Holder received his J.D. degree from Columbia Law School, graduating in 1976.

He worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund during his first summer and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York during his second summer.

After graduating from Columbia Law School, Holder joined the U.S. Justice Department's new Public Integrity Section, where he worked from 1976 to 1988.

During his time there, he assisted in the prosecution of Democratic Congressman John Jenrette for bribery discovered in the Abscam sting operation.

In 1988, President Reagan appointed Holder to serve as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Holder stepped down from the bench in 1993 to accept an appointment as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from President Bill Clinton.

He was the first Black American U.S. Attorney in that office.

At the beginning of his tenure, he oversaw the conclusion of the corruption case against Dan Rostenkowski, part of the Congressional Post Office scandal.

Holder also served on The George Washington University's Board of Trustees in 1996 and 1997.

He was a U.S. Attorney until his elevation to Deputy Attorney General in 1997.

In 1997, after the retirement of Jamie Gorelick, Clinton nominated Holder to be the Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno.

Holder was confirmed several months later in the Senate by a unanimous vote.

During his confirmation hearing, Holder's opposition to the death penalty was questioned, but he pledged his intention to cooperate with the current laws and Reno, saying, "I am not a proponent of the death penalty, but I will enforce the law as this Congress gives it to us."

Holder was the first African American to serve in that position.

As Deputy Attorney General, Holder's primary responsibilities were in the areas of budget and personnel issues; this also included resolving disputes among department heads and briefing reporters on policy initiatives, national security issue, and major investigations, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigations into allegations of bribery and corruption in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Holder later advised Reno in the matters regarding the Independent Counsel statute.

Reno made the decision to permit Kenneth Starr to expand his investigation into the Lewinsky affair, leading to Clinton's impeachment.

Holder was senior legal advisor to Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign and one of three members of his vice-presidential selection committee.

Holder was a close ally and confidant of Obama's and was selected as his first attorney general.

Holder became the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress during an investigation of the Operation Fast and Furious ATF gunwalking scandal.

The Justice Department's inspector general under Obama refused to prosecute him and later cleared him of the charges.

After he was succeeded as attorney general by Loretta Lynch in April 2015, Holder returned to Covington & Burling, where he continues to practice corporate litigation, and is also involved with efforts at gerrymandering reform through the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

Eric Himpton Holder Jr. was born in The Bronx, New York, to parents with roots in Barbados.