Haden Edward Knox, the Charlotte attorney and civic leader known to nearly everyone simply as Eddie, who served as the 49th mayor of his adopted city and spent six decades arguing for ordinary people in North Carolina courtrooms, has died. He was 89.

Knox died on June 22, 2026, his law firm announced, as reported by WHQR. Born on January 22, 1937, in Davidson, North Carolina, he grew up in the Piedmont before going on to North Carolina State University, where his classmates elected him president of the student body. He carried that early instinct for public service into the law, earning his degree from Wake Forest University School of Law, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1963 as a Babcock Scholar.

Knox entered public life in the North Carolina Senate, where he served two terms from 1971 to 1974. He soon became a trusted hand in state Democratic politics, chairing Jim Hunt's successful 1976 campaign for governor. Three years later, Charlotte voters sent him to City Hall. As the city's 49th mayor from 1979 to 1983, he led a Charlotte that was steadily growing into the financial and commercial hub it would become, and he helped steer its expansion during a pivotal stretch of the city's history.

When his time as mayor ended, Knox was succeeded by Harvey Gantt, who made history as Charlotte's first Black mayor, as WSOC-TV noted in recounting his career. Knox set his sights higher in 1984, mounting a campaign for governor of North Carolina, though he fell short in the Democratic primary. That race marked the close of his elected career, but not his service to his community.

For most of his life, the courtroom was Knox's truest calling. He built the Knox Law Center into a Charlotte institution that has now operated for more than 60 years, with offices in Charlotte and in Denver, North Carolina, as detailed by WCNC. A board-certified trial specialist who took on personal injury and workers' compensation cases, he earned a long list of professional honors over the decades, including induction into the North Carolina Bar Association's General Practice Hall of Fame in 2008. He also gave back to his profession as an instructor for fellow trial lawyers, passing along the craft he had spent a lifetime refining.

In announcing his death, the firm he founded reflected on the man behind the long career. "Eddie dedicated his life to serving his clients, supporting his community, and building the foundation of what would become Knox Law Center," the Knox Law Center said in a statement. "His leadership, character, and commitment to helping others shaped our firm and influenced generations of attorneys, staff, clients, and friends."

Knox was married to attorney Frances S. Knox, who shared both his profession and his partnership through the years. He is survived by his family, including two children and eight grandchildren.

Eddie Knox leaves a legacy stitched into the civic fabric of Charlotte and the wider state he served. He was a public servant who believed a city was something you built and a community was something you tended, whether from the mayor's office, the floor of the state Senate, or a courtroom where one person needed someone in their corner. The firm that still bears his name, the colleagues he mentored, and the Charlotte that grew up around him all stand as quiet monuments to a life given to service. In the offices and courthouses where he was a familiar presence for so long, his name will be spoken with the kind of respect that is earned only over a lifetime of showing up for others.