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Charles R. Oldham, a key leader in the civil rights movement here who was arrested for his part in the watershed Jefferson Bank & Trust Co. protests, died Wednesday from skin cancer at the home of a friend in University City. He was 83.

Others involved in the civil rights movement locally said the lawyer who grew up in rural Missouri became an instrumental leader because of his idealism and sense of justice.

"Most people have heard of Martin Luther King, but in every little area there were people fighting and sacrificing, and for our area, he was one of our main leaders," said Herman Thompson, a friend who was involved in protests with Mr. Oldham. "Charlie was solid, sensible. He was the No. 1 person as far as civil rights in St. Louis."

Mr. Oldham was born in Casper, Wyo., but moved to tiny Marceline, in northern Missouri, with his mother after his pilot father died in an accident.

Mr. Oldham was in the Army Air Forces during World War II and served as an airplane gunner in the Pacific. After the war, he attended law school at Washington University, where he graduated second in his class.

Mr. Oldham quickly became involved in the civil rights movement. He met his wife, Marian, a St. Louis teacher, in 1951 at a protest at the Stix, Baer & Fuller department store.

The protesters were working to open lunch counters and tea rooms to African-Americans. Thompson recalled that Mr. Oldham, who was white, once ordered a burger and fries at a department store restaurant, and then Thompson, who is black, walked in, sat down and started eating.

The restaurant server was aghast, Thompson recalled. The maitre d' said, "I want our white customers to know that we do not serve Negroes here, and this Negro is eating over our objections,'" Thompson said. "Charlie and I just sat there and grinned."

Similarly, Mr. Oldham would purchase homes on behalf of African-Americans in neighborhoods where white residents refused to sell to black buyers.

Mr. Oldham was national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality from 1956 to 1963. As a lawyer, he represented clients in bias cases, often working for free. He was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1965, representing a union local.

The protests at Jefferson Bank & Trust Co., beginning in 1963, were a turning point in the civil rights movement locally. The bank became a symbol of area companies that would hire African-Americans only for menial jobs. Mr. Oldham later said it was the first time local civil rights efforts received a lot of attention. He and his wife were among those arrested, and protests over the jailing of demonstrators drew more attention to the cause.

"It represented a change in the attitude of the employers, and it changed the attitude of the public, and I think it changed the attitude of the courts, at least in the local area," he said in 2003.

Retired U.S. Rep. William L. Clay Sr., a friend and fellow civil rights activist, said Mr. Oldham was an important part of the effort - at no small risk.

"He put his life on the line," Clay said. "Back in those days, it was very dangerous - St. Louis was no better than Birmingham or Montgomery. We should remember him as a hero in the struggle for equality."

Thompson, who now lives in North Carolina, said Mr. Oldham read Gandhi, talked about non-violence and had a strong sense of right and wrong.

"He taught us you have to stand up for your rights, and you have to do it without beating or killing anyone," Thompson said. "He was one of the finest people I ever met - black or white."

Marian Oldham became a curator at the University of Missouri, which had once rejected her application as a student because she was black. She died in 1994.

Among survivors are a son, John C. Oldham of Kansas City; a daughter, Dr. Lisa Oldham-Anderson of Chicago; and five grandchildren.

Mr. Oldham donated his body to Washington University for scientific research.

Arrangements for a memorial service had not been finalized Wednesday night.