Adrian William DeWind Sr. (December 1, 1913 – August 7, 2009) was a tax attorney, political adviser, and founder of Human Rights Watch.
In 1942, at the behest of the prominent tax attorney Randolph E. Paul, DeWind joined the Department of the Treasury to help draft legislation financing the United States participation in World War II.
In 1950, he began a long association with NAACP Legal Defense Fund, then under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, advising the organization on tax law.
The bar under his presidency also recommended stricter and more transparent mechanisms for the oversight of the city’s budget and finances,[2] In 1976, he served as a founding board member of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
[3] Dewind was also a founder of Human Rights Watch, and monitored the treatment of dissidents in a number of countries, including the Soviet Union, South Korea and Guatemala, where he wrote a report on government-sponsored violence against Mayan villagers.