Mark Kennedy, a former Alabama Supreme Court Justice who helped start an organization to prevent child abuse because of what he saw on the bench, has died.

Kennedy, 72, died peacefully at his home in Montgomery on July 17, surrounded by family according to his obituary.

Kennedy, a native of Greenville, was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court in 1988 and re-elected to a second term in 1994.

Kennedy served as chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party from 2011 until 2013.

Inspired by his time as a family court and juvenile court judge in Montgomery, Kennedy was the founding chair of the Children’s Trust Fund, a groundbreaking organization created in 1983 to prevent child abuse and neglect.

“He was a child advocate before being a child advocate was cool,” said former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb. “There is no way to quantify how many thousands of children and families have been positively impacted by Justice Kennedy’s vision to establish the Children’s Trust Fund.”

Cobb, who later helped spearhead the founding of another organization, Children First, said Kennedy saw the need for more resources to help the families in crisis that he saw in his courtroom and break the cycle of child abuse.

“A lot of judges think their job is just to go to a courtroom and make decisions,” Cobb said. “And Judge Kennedy understood the real role of judges, and that’s to be true problem solvers.

“Judges have a tremendous amount of insight about societal wrongs and issues because we see it in the courtroom day in and day out. And Judge Kennedy took that and has made an enormous difference in people’s lives.”

Kennedy was a leader in the redevelopment of downtown Montgomery more than two decades ago, including the Riverwalk Stadium, home of the Montgomery Biscuits minor league team.

Kennedy is survived by his wife of 50 years, Peggy Wallace Kennedy, daughter of Alabama Govs. George Wallace and Lurleen Wallace. He is survived by his two sons and their wives, as well as several grandchildren.

A memorial service was held Monday at First United Methodist Church in Montgomery, where Kennedy was an active member.