1930-39 | 1940-49 | 1950-59 | 1960-69 | 1970-79 | 1980-1989
1930-1939
Robert F. Levin ’31-’32 of Lexington, Va., died June 24, 2004. Formerly of Newton, Mass., he spent his career in law and business before teaching at the Loker School, a public elementary school in Wayland, Mass., from 1963 to 1976.
Milton Band ’32 of Yonkers, N.Y., died July 3, 2004. Formerly of Winthrop, Mass., he was a solo practitioner in Boston, where he specialized in real estate law and finance. He also was a violinist for Florida Atlantic University Community Symphony Orchestra and a tenor for Florida Atlantic University Festival Chorus.
Robert J.G. Morton ’34-’36 of Columbus, Ohio, died April 7, 2005.
R. Stuart Hoffius ’35-’37 of Grand Rapids, Mich., died Jan. 19, 2005. He was chief circuit court judge of Kent County and of counsel at Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett in Grand Rapids. In the 1950s, he was a prosecuting attorney for Kent County before being elected a circuit judge in 1959. He served on the bench for 30 years, retiring in 1988. An officer of many professional and civic boards, for nearly 13 years, he was a director of the Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society. During WWII, he was a special agent in the FBI.
Saul Balmuth ’37 of Ballston Spa, N.Y., died Feb. 14, 2005. He was in private practice in Ballston Spa for more than 50 years and served as a Saratoga County Family Court judge. During WWII, he served in Italy in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Office.
William R. Basch ’37 of Hartford, Conn., died June 3, 2005. He spent most of his career in the automobile industry, as vice president and comptroller of Russell Pontiac and later Pontiac Center in West Hartford. He also worked for the Connecticut Department of Labor and the Veterans’ Administration. During WWII, he served in the U.S. Army.
Eliot L. Bernstein ’37 of Chestnut Hill, Mass., died May 30, 2005. He was president of the Biltrite Corp., a rubber-manufacturing firm. A member of many organizations, he was a fellow of Brandeis University and a life trustee of Combined Jewish Philanthropies. During WWII, he was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and served as a communications and executive officer of a destroyer in the Atlantic.
H.B. Ritchie LL.M. ’38 of Portland, Ore., died April 6, 2005. Formerly of Summit, N.J., he was vice president of Pacific Molasses Co., an importer and distributor of molasses in New York City. An attorney in Georgia and Washington, D.C., he moved to Portland in 1998. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps.
Charles W. Pachner ’38-’39 of Scarsdale, N.Y., died April 3, 2005. He was chairman and president of Frenkel & Co., an international insurance brokerage firm. He joined the firm in 1951 and helped it become a pioneer in providing risk management services to many prominent firms. He was a board member of Westchester Jewish Community Services and the Musician’s Foundation.
C. Keating Bowie ’39 of Lutherville, Md., died June 30, 2005. Formerly of Oxford, Md., he was a longtime Baltimore corporate lawyer and joined what became Bowie, Burke and Leonard in 1939. He also worked for Miles & Stockbridge before being named a partner in 1968 at what is now known as McGuireWoods. Early in his career, he was an assistant city solicitor, and in the 1960s, he was a mayoral adviser on housing matters. In 1965, he was appointed head of the Commission on the Revision of the Corporate Laws of Maryland. A 31-year board member of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, he played a key role in raising money to renovate the Peabody Library at Johns Hopkins University. He also served on the board of the Talbot County Library and Talbot County Historical Society.
Ronald B. Jamieson ’39 of Gaithersburg, Md., died Feb. 5, 2004. He was a circuit court judge in Hawaii and presided over the state’s 1960 presidential election dispute. In a close race between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, an initial tally of Hawaii’s votes produced a victory for Kennedy, but the state’s lieutenant governor later certified the race for Nixon after discovering voting irregularities in 34 precincts. As circuit court judge, Jamieson called for a recount of ballots and later ruled that Kennedy won Hawaii, and the state’s three electoral votes, by a 115-vote margin.
1940-1949
Stanley Gewirtz ’40 of New York City died July 23, 2005. He spent the bulk of his career in the aviation industry, retiring in 1985 as vice president of Pan American World Airways, in charge of Washington affairs; public, state and urban affairs; employee communications; and public relations. He served as special adviser on government and business matters to the vice chairman of the company. A consultant to the U.S. secretary of transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA, he also served as vice chairman of President Kennedy’s Task Force on National Aviation Goals. He was of counsel to Opton Handler Gottlieb Feiler Landau in New York City and lectured at Harvard Business School, Northeastern University and the law school at the University of Utah. During WWII, he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Air Transport Command, and was awarded the Bronze Star.
Vincent A. Theisen ’40 of Wilmington, Del., died April 17, 2005. He was president of and later of counsel to Theisen Lank Mulford & Goldberg in Wilmington, where he specialized in corporate law.
Charles Conston ’40-’42 of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., died April 8, 2005. A clothing retailer, he helped expand his family’s business of dress shops to more than 300 national stores, including Famous Maid, Kristy’s Korner and 16 Plus stores. The company, Conston Corp., went public in 1986, and he retired as president in 1990. He was vice chairman of the United Way campaign in Philadelphia and the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia. He was president of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Philadelphia and the Jewish Exponent, a weekly newspaper in Philadelphia. In 1977, he received a community award from the Federation of Allied Jewish Appeal in Philadelphia. During WWII, he served in the U.S. Navy in the Atlantic and Pacific.
William M. Ferguson ’41 of Wellington, Kan., died June 9, 2005. He was a Kansas attorney general in the 1960s, and in the 1950s, he represented Wellington and Sumner counties in the Kansas House of Representatives. He also was active in ranching and managed the Ferguson Ranch and the Ferguson Cattle Co. After his retirement in 1979, he became an aerial photographer of Indian sites and wrote three books about Mayan ruins in Mexico and Central America and two books on the Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest. During WWII, he served as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve.
Stephen H. Fuller ’41-’42 of Melvin Village, N.H., died Jan. 25, 2005. An authority on labor relations and organizational behavior, he was the Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School, where he served as associate dean from 1963 to 1969. For 11 years, he was a vice president at General Motors Corp., and later he was chairman and CEO of World Book. Most recently, he was a professor at Ohio University. He played a key role in establishing the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, the first full-time graduate school of management in Southeast Asia. The Philippine government awarded him the Medal of Merit.
Keith Anderson ’42 of Englewood, Colo., died June 5, 2005. He was a partner at Baker & Hostetler in Denver, where he specialized in probate, banking and real estate law. He was a director and treasurer of Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood and a director of the Dominion National Bank of Denver.
Mario Umana ’42 of Boston died April 27, 2005. He was a Massachusetts Senate majority leader, and from 1973 to 1991, he was a judge for the Boston Municipal Court. He served two terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 1951. The Boston School Committee named the Mario Umana Harbor School of Science and Technology in his honor in 1976. During WWII, he served in the China-Burma-India theater as a U.S. Army Air Forces staff sergeant.
Wilbur M. Rabinowitz ’43 of Boca Raton, Fla., died April 29, 2005. He was the director of Republic New York Corp., a bank holding company, and author of “Almost Everywhere: Odysseys to Unusual Places.” He was a trustee of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., and Mendeleev University in Moscow.
Leonard Schlesinger ’45-’46 of Newton, Mass., died June 11, 2005. He practiced law in Boston for more than 60 years, including 30 years with his son at Schlesinger and Schlesinger. In the 1950s, he was metropolitan districts chairman for the Combined Jewish Philanthropies. His collection of travel memorabilia is housed in the Boston Public Library.
James C. Daubenspeck ’46 of Hilton Head Island, S.C., died July 15, 2005. An attorney with Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago beginning in 1955, he was head of the firm’s estate planning department. He began his career with McDermott Will & Emery. He served on several boards, including the Park Ridge (Ill.) School Board and the Barrington Hills (Ill.) Zoning Board, and was a trustee of Knox College and DePaul University. During WWII, he served in the U.S. Navy as a navigator aboard the USS Weehawken.
Nelson Schwab Jr. ’47 of Cincinnati died April 9, 2005. For more than 50 years, he practiced corporate law at Graydon Head & Ritchey. He was president of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Cincinnati Board of Education. He received the Great Living Cincinnatian Award from the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, was named “Cincinnatian of the Year” by the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and was a member of the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame. During WWII, he was a commander in the U.S. Navy.
Arthur L. Bartlett ’48 of Nantucket, Mass., died May 12, 2004. He spent his career as an attorney at Johnson & Clapp in Boston, specializing in conveyancing and utility law.
Donald G. Harrison ’48 of Saint Clair Shores, Mich., died March 12, 2005. He was a senior partner and specialized in corporate law at Cross Wrock in Detroit.
Wilfred G. Howland ’48 of Sun City Center, Fla., died March 31, 2005. An insurance executive, he retired from the America Group, now known as Allmerica Financial Corp., in Worcester, Mass., in 1979, having served as senior vice president as well as chief executive and director of some of the group’s companies. Earlier in his career, he practiced law at Nutter McClennen & Fish in Boston and was general counsel and later senior vice president and director of the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Cos. A board member of many property-casualty insurance company rating and service organizations, he developed a plan to provide insurance for areas of Boston where it was difficult to meet underwriting standards. After his semiretirement, he was insurance editor of The United States Banker and Investor. A philatelist and fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society, London, he was known for his research, writings and prizewinning collections of early Peruvian stamps and other historical postal materials.
Edward R. “Ned” Kimmel ’48 of Wilmington, Del., died July 1, 2005. A longtime attorney in the antitrust division of DuPont, he was founder and director of the World Affairs Council of Wilmington and a founding member and president of the Greenville Country Club. He was also president of the Active Young Republicans in New Castle County. For two decades until the time of his death, he fought to clear the name of his father, a naval admiral at Pearl Harbor, who was cited for dereliction of duty, demoted and forced to resign after the Japanese attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. Kimmel served in the U.S. Navy during WWII and attained the rank of lieutenant commander.
David I. Wendel ’48 of Alameda, Calif., died April 22, 2005. He practiced real estate and business law for 50 years. He joined what is now Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean in Oakland, Calif. in 1951 and resigned as managing partner in 1991. He was an Alameda County Bar Association president and chairman of the board of directors and legal counsel for the Oakland Chamber of Commerce. He served in the U.S. Army during WWII and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Lyle R. Wolff ’48 of Salem, Ore., died June 21, 2005. A circuit court judge in Baker County from the late 1950s to 1977, he was later an administrative law judge in Salem. He practiced law in Baker County before being elected to the court. During WWII, he was a bomber pilot and flew missions over Europe.
Roger J. Kuhns ’48-’49 of Fitchburg, Mass., died March 28, 2005. He was president and CEO of Avant Inc., a photo identification and lamination business in Fitchburg. He was involved in licensing government and industrial security patents. Early in his career, he was a civilian procurement officer for the U.S. Navy and established a contracting department at the National Science Foundation before joining American Machine & Foundry.
J. Raymond Clark ’49 of Saint Simons Island, Ga., died Dec. 12, 2004. Formerly of Washington, D.C., he specialized in transportation law as a solo practitioner and was treasurer and executive committee member of the Association of Interstate Commerce Commission Practitioners.
John W. Hird II ’49 of Warwick, R.I., died June 7, 2004. Formerly of Lower Waterford, Vt., and East Longmeadow, Mass., he was a legal consultant in Vermont. Earlier in his career, he briefly served in the United Nations before beginning his practice of law in Springfield, Mass. He also taught law at Western New England College and served as a television talk show moderator. During WWII, he served in the U.S. Navy, aboard the USS Renshaw, supporting amphibious landings in the South Pacific. On Navy Day 1946, he was assigned the job of escorting President Truman around the USS Renshaw as he reviewed the fleet.
William T. Seawell ’49 of Pine Bluff, Ark., died May 20, 2005. A brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force, he served as commandant of cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, and he was later president and chairman of Pan American World Airways. He held many positions during his military career, including military assistant to the deputy secretary of defense. He later worked in the private sector for American Airlines, Rolls-Royce Aero Engines and Pan American. During WWII, he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in Europe and became a commander of a bombardment group of B-17s. He flew 30 missions and received the Silver Star.
Douglas L. Manley ’49-’50 of Guilderland, N.Y., died Jan. 27, 2005. For many years he served as assistant attorney general in New York state and was a member of the Appeals and Opinions Bureau of the attorney general’s office. Earlier in his career, he practiced law in Buffalo. He helped establish the Social Justice Center of Albany, helped seek sanctuary for refugees from the Central American wars of the 1980s and was a member of Americans Against Nuclear War and the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign. He also was a longtime member of the World Federalist Association, now known as Citizens for Global Solutions. During WWII, he served in the U.S. Army.
1950-1959
Mortimer Barr ’50 of Merritt Island, Fla., died Dec. 12, 2004.
William A. Cook LL.M. ’50 of Harbor Island, S.C., died March 18, 2005.
James W. Rigrish ’50 of Akron, Ohio, died Feb. 24, 2005. He worked in the law department of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Vincent H. Yano ’50 of Honolulu died May 11, 2005. A state senator from 1963 to 1970, he served as chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. A prominent Catholic and a Knight of St. Sylvester appointed by Pope Paul VI, he was chairman of the Senate Health Committee in 1970 when the bill to legalize abortion was referred to his committee. After initially holding up the bill because of personal opposition, he later reversed his position. The bill was ultimately passed by both houses, making Hawaii the first state to legalize abortion. He established the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii and helped start the Association for Retarded Citizens. He was also the president of Rubber Stamp House for 30 years, and he had a Taco Bell franchise with seven locations. He served in the U.S. Army and as a civilian attorney for the Army on Okinawa, Japan, from 1952 to 1954.
C. Robert Burt ’51 of Avon, Conn., died Feb. 23, 2005. Formerly of Columbia, Mo., he worked for 22 years for Farm Credit Banks of St. Louis, where he served as general counsel. Earlier in his career, he practiced corporate law in Columbia and was city attorney there. He served in the U.S. Army during WWII and received the Bronze Star. After the war, he continued to serve in the military, primarily in Vienna, Austria, and Berlin, and attained the rank of major.
Ishier Jacobson ’51 of Stamford, Conn., died July 20, 2005. A public utility executive, he worked at Citizens Utilities Co. for 36 years. He was named company president in 1970 and CEO in 1981. He was chairman of Silver Hill Hospital and Connecticut Ballet and a director of the Harvard Alumni Association. A veteran of WWII, he served in the U.S. Navy aboard a submarine in the Atlantic and the USS Washington in the Pacific.
Thomas H. Robinson ’51 of East Rochester, N.Y., died Nov. 25, 2004. He was an executive with Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, where he was involved in antitrust/trade regulation and government contracting.
Lawrence M. Woods ’51 of Kane, Pa., died June 22, 2004. He was a partner at Woods Baker & Ross in Kane and a director of the Community Hospital of Kane, the McKean County Industrial Council and the McKean County Industrial Authority. He also served as director, president and chairman of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Kane.
William T. Rountree Jr. ’52 of Pensacola, Fla., died April 8, 2005. A faculty member at Emory Law School from 1967 to 1992, he taught constitutional law, urban government and legislation. After retiring, he joined the faculty at Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Va., and he was instrumental in helping the school achieve its accreditation. Earlier in his career, he taught law at what is now the University of Memphis. During WWII, he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a cryptographer in the China-Burma-India theater.
James F. Ryan ’52 of Boston died April 3, 2005. He was a solo practitioner in Boston.
Walter Jay Skinner ’52 of Concord, Mass., died May 8, 2005. A U.S. District Court judge in Boston, he presided over the 1986 water contamination case in Woburn, Mass., portrayed in the book and movie “A Civil Action.” Before his appointment to the federal bench in 1974, he was an assistant district attorney in Plymouth County and an assistant attorney general in Massachusetts. After retiring from the bench in 1993, he focused on painting. His portrait of Judge Charles Wyzanski ’30 hangs in the federal courthouse in Boston.
Raymond W. Murray Jr. ’53 of Vero Beach, Fla., died March 20, 2005. He was a senior partner at Bond, Schoeneck & King in Syracuse, N.Y., where he focused his practice on labor and employment law.
Gavin P. Murphy ’54 of New York City died April 7, 2005. He was counsel to J.P. Stevens & Co., Standard Brands Inc. and Fiduciary Counsel Inc. Earlier in his career, he was associated with Dewey Ballantine. A mediator and arbitrator, he also taught law at New York University and Yeshiva University and mathematics at Northeastern University. He was a member of several professional and civic organizations and founded an organization that served mentally disturbed adolescents. He was a program producer of In Touch Networks and an editor of The Recorder, the journal of the American Irish Historical Society. During WWII, he served in the U.S. Navy.
Ramon L. Posel ’54 of New York City died June 24, 2005. Formerly of Philadelphia, he was a real estate developer and founder of Ritz Theatres, which originally showed only independent and international films. He built his first movie theater in Philadelphia in 1964, and in 1976, he founded what was then the Ritz Three there. Early in his career, he worked in the real estate division of WolfBlock in Philadelphia. He was on the board of managers at Swarthmore College from 1986 to 1991.
Warren Brody ’55 of Roselle, N.J., died April 25, 2005. He was a judge in New Jersey for 22 years. Appointed to the Union County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in 1973, he became a superior court judge five years later and a presiding judge of the appellate division in 1992. He returned to private practice in 1995, and from 1997 to 2003, he served on the Disciplinary Review Board of the New Jersey Supreme Court. He also taught at Rutgers School of Law-Newark, wrote for the New Jersey Lawyer and was a trustee of the HLSA of New Jersey.
David A. Sutherland ’55 of Luray, Va., died March 25, 2004. He was a partner at Sutherland & Mackey in Alexandria.
Sherman Winthrop ’55 of St. Paul, Minn., died June 6, 2005. A founding partner of Winthrop and Weinstine in Minneapolis, he began his career at Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly in Minneapolis before forming his own firm in 1979. A director of many organizations, he served on the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board and the executive counsel of the Ramsey County Bar Association. He was posthumously honored as a 50-year senior counselor by the Minnesota State Bar Association.
Alfred K. Kestenbaum ’56 of Leonia, N.J., died March 31, 2005. A litigator in New York City for 40 years, he was a partner at Blumberg, Singer, Ross & Gordon as well as at Paradise & Alberts. After retiring in 1996, he was active in local government in Leonia. During the Korean War, he served in the U.S. Army.
Frederick H. Condon ’58 of East Andover, N.H., and Fort Myers, Fla., died July 7, 2005. An insurance executive, he worked for Chubb Life America and Jefferson Pilot Financial Insurance Co., retiring in 1998 as general counsel and senior vice president of the latter. In 1961, a car crash left him a paraplegic and inspired his friend and classmate Ralph Nader to crusade for safer cars. Nader dedicated his 1965 book, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” to Condon.
1960-1969
Thomas A. Skornia ’61 of San Francisco died April 27, 2005. A Silicon Valley attorney for more than 30 years, he focused his practice on high-technology startup and emerging growth companies. He was founding counsel, secretary and director of both Applied Materials and Advanced Micro Devices. He also was the organizing counsel to the Semiconductor Industry Association and counsel to Joint Valley Network, Santa Clara County Manufacturing Group, Smart Valley Inc. and CommerceNet.
Walter E. White ’61 of Portland, Ore., died Feb. 9, 2004. He was an attorney for the California attorney general’s office in Sacramento and later worked in maintenance for the Portland Public Schools. He served in the U.S. Army.
Barry L. Costilo ’62 of Takoma Park, Md., died Feb. 19, 2005. A government antitrust lawyer for four decades, he was lead counsel for the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition and prosecuted groundbreaking antitrust cases involving the American Medical Association and the Indiana Federation of Dentists. In the AMA case, he challenged the restriction on physicians’ advertising that was part of the association’s code of ethics and opened the door for competition in the medical field. He joined the FTC in 1971, after having worked at the U.S. Department of Justice, and retired last year. He received the commission’s Award for Distinguished Service.
Donald S. Harry ’62 of Wilmington, Vt., died May 26, 2004. He was a solo practitioner in Wilmington, where he focused his practice on business and corporate law.
James T. Marshall ’64 of Boulder, Colo., died July 28, 2005. He worked in the investment field and as president of Key Pharmaceuticals in Miami. Earlier in his career, he was an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. After graduating from HLS, he served in the U.S. Army.
Harvey S. Price ’67 of Gaithersburg, Md., died Aug. 7, 2005. He was a Washington, D.C., lawyer and biotechnology consultant, and in 1981 he founded what is now known as the Biotechnology Industry Organization. He was a part-time executive with biotechnology trade groups before joining Zuckerman Spaeder in Washington in 2003. He began his career as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington and later joined the staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In 1973, he was named vice president and general counsel of the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness.
Cornelius J. Dwyer Jr. ’68 of New York City died May 7, 2005. For 35 years, he practiced law at Shearman & Sterling in New York City. After retiring, he volunteered at P.S. 36 in Harlem and studied the Irish language.
1970-1979
Mark I. Weinberger ’74 of Berkeley, Calif., died July 14, 2005. In 1980, he co-founded one of the first law firms dedicated to environmental protection in California, Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger in San Francisco, and was known for developing innovative strategies for preserving open space and protecting environmental values. After graduating from HLS, he worked in the environmental unit of the California attorney general’s office.
Michael H. Skelton ’76 of New York City died Nov. 30, 2004. He was managing director of Mistral Management.
Thomas O. Sargentich ’77 of Arlington, Va., died April 21, 2005. A constitutional scholar, he was a professor at American University Washington College of Law for 22 years. He was co-director of the college’s program on law and government, director of its Master of Laws program on law and government, and chairman of the faculty board for the Administrative Law Review. He also worked in the Office of Legal Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1990, he was honored with the American University Award for Outstanding Research and Scholarship, and this year he received the Pauline Ruyle Moore Award for Scholarship in Public Law for his article “The Rehnquist Court and State Sovereignty: Limitations of the New Federalism.” He was the brother of HLS Professor Lewis D. Sargentich ’70.
1980-1989
David H. Peipers ’81 of Tallahassee, Fla., died April 13, 2005. Formerly of New York City, he was a venture capitalist and president of Peipers & Co. He served on the boards of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health and was a trustee of Groton School in Groton, Mass.
Frederick T. Smith ’85 of Newark, N.J., died April 4, 2005. A product liability defense attorney, he practiced at McCarter & English in Newark for 18 years. He also served as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School of Law and was a presiding judge for employee disciplinary hearings for Essex County. He served on the editorial board of the New Jersey Lawyer and was a board member of the Newark YMWCA, the Newark Boys Chorus School and St. Peter’s Preparatory School. A member of the 100 Black Men of New Jersey, he was named a Minority Achiever in 2000 by the national YMCA.