Harvey Adams Jr., one of the late 20th century's most assertive and powerful voices on behalf of the Pittsburgh region's minorities, died Monday in his Stanton Heights home.

Mr. Adams, 80, president of the Pittsburgh NAACP from 1976-92, had been weakened the past four years by a stroke.

There had been little sign of weakness during a robust adulthood in which he and other civil rights leaders collaborated in prodding local officials on many issues, such as providing jobs to the black population. Mr. Adams was the most ready and willing among his peers to criticize a governor, mayor, police official or business leader who appeared to be slighting minority concerns.

He was also on the city of Pittsburgh's police force for 23 years as an officer and sergeant and served as chief of the Pittsburgh Housing Authority police force and the Wilkinsburg Police Department.

While a Pittsburgh officer, he stood up against the police hierarchy and fellow officers, accusing them of racism and brutality. He even led a protest march Downtown in 1978 against the city police department's investigation of a killing, while he held a dual role as officer and NAACP president.

"No one ever had to wonder about what he was thinking," said Alma Fox of Stanton Heights, a longtime NAACP activist and friend of Mr. Adams.

He was praised for his physical courage, ignoring anonymous death threats that resulted from his outspokenness. Those came both when he was running the NAACP and before that as head and founder of the Guardians of Greater Pittsburgh, an organization predominantly of black police officers, willing to challenge the practices of both police supervisors and the Fraternal Order of Police.

When leaving the police force in 1979, he said his public candor probably cost him promotions within the department, but it was worth it.

"It didn't make me popular, but if you are dedicated to civil rights, you know there are certain things you have to give up, and that includes personal ambitions," Mr. Adams told a reporter. "When police abuse goes unchecked, it diminishes the respect the good officers are entitled to."

His public criticisms cost him even more directly in later years. In 1994, after 11 years heading Pittsburgh Housing Authority police, he held a news conference to blast Mayor Tom Murphy and Housing Authority Director Stanley Lowe, whom he accused of mishandling the housing authority. Mr. Adams was quickly dismissed from the $66,000-a-year position.

He came under criticism himself for running a security firm -- which eventually went bankrupt -- in which he was accused of benefiting from his political connections and NAACP role. He also received substantial fees as a consultant for Warner Cable when it pursued and won the lucrative cable television monopoly for the city.

Those concerns were largely overshadowed by Mr. Adams' decades of toiling for disadvantaged Pittsburghers, keeping in mind his own memories of facing frequent discrimination as an aspiring Army officer and as a young police officer.

The Guardians and NAACP were both part of a successful lawsuit that forced the city police department for years to hire an equal number of women and black officers as male and white officers.

Pittsburgh police Chief Nate Harper called Mr. Adams a no-nonsense mentor and "trailblazer" who "helped to align standards that would be used for the fair hiring of many of our African-American officers on the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police today."

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato said, "Like many others of his generation, Harvey Adams did not stand still, but stood tall in the face of adversity, making sure that everyone was given fair and equal opportunity. ... Allegheny County mourns the loss of a great man and a great champion for civil rights."

Originally from Polish Hill, the son of a chauffeur, Mr. Adams obtained a degree from West Virginia State College. He served two years in the Army in Korea and worked temporarily as a state welfare caseworker before entering police work.

His stature within the minority community as leader of the Guardians helped him win the NAACP presidency in 1976, after years of serving on the civil rights group's committees. For the next 16 years, he was a regular media presence and thorn in the side of power-brokers.

When he felt the leaders of Renaissance II showed too little commitment to minority contracts and hiring, he badgered them with protests and threats of protests until agreements were in place to try to give them 15 percent of the work on projects such as One Oxford Centre or the Dravo Building.

"We want the mayor, City Council and the Urban Redevelopment Authority to know we are going to be a part of the Renaissance ... or there will be no Renaissance," Mr. Adams announced in 1980.

He could be a scowling figure at such times, wearing a heavy beard after cutting back the large afro of his earlier years, but friends knew a soft side. He was gentle "Uncle Harvey" to a large circle of children among his acquaintances. He loved golf and poker, though his busy schedule cut into his ability to play.

He will long be remembered as part of an era when African-Americans had to stand up boldly for their rights to be heard. And his was one voice that was heard.

"When you think of the NAACP in Pittsburgh, you can't help but think of his name," said Tim Stevens, one of his successors as the organization's president.

"He made it clear what he wanted, and how he wanted it, and in the waning years of the civil rights movement, that was probably appropriate," Mr. Stevens said. "He was a consistent voice in the struggle for justice in this region."

He is survived by his wife, Shirley; one son, Harvey Adams III of Blackridge; two daughters, Carol Lynn Adams of Wilkinsburg and Nikkisha Wright of Stanton Heights; and three grandchildren.

Friends will be received from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday at Coston Funeral Homes Inc., 427 Lincoln Ave., East Liberty. Services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Bethel AME Church, 2720 Webster Ave, Hill District.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Harvey Adams Scholarship Fund, c/o Poise Foundation, One Gateway Center, No. 500, Pittsburgh PA 15222.