If there is a central theme to the recollections shared by those who knew Judge Phyllis Kravitch, it's of a towering intellect embodied in a gracious, diminutive Southern lady.

Kravitch died Thursday at Piedmont Hospital at age 96.

“Physically, she was so tiny that, for people who didn't know her, it was easy to overlook her at first,” said Mercer University law professor Tim Floyd, who clerked for Kravitch more than 35 years ago. “But you didn't have to be around her long to know you'd never overlook her again. She had a powerful presence, even if people didn't notice it right off.”