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Class Notes

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To submit a class note, email us or submit mail to UVA Lawyer, University of Virginia School of Law, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903. Please send your submissions no later than Sept. 15 for inclusion in the next issue.

1948

Pierce Lively died on March 12 at the age of 94. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy in World War II, winning commendation for bravery in the Okinawa campaign. After graduat­ing from the Law School, he clerked for U.S. Sixth Circuit Appellate Judge Shackelford Miller in Louisville, Ky. He practiced law for 22 years in Danville, Ky., and in 1972 was appointed to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. He served as chief judge from 1983-88, during which time he tapped the Law School for several of his clerks. He continued to hear cases and write opinions while on senior status, retiring in 1997, and taught constitutional law at his alma mater, Centre College, in Danville, until he was nearly 90.

1950

Jerry Weinberg passed away on June 12. A native of Norfolk, Va., Weinberg was retired as a partner in the law firm Weinberg and Stein. In addition to his law degree, he earned a B.S. in commerce at the University.

Weinberg was a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the Virginia Law Foundation and the American Bar Foundation. He was a member of the Virginia State Bar; American Bar Association; Virginia Bar Association; emeritus member, Judicial Conference, U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals; and a past president of the Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association. “I had the privilege of practicing law with Jerry at Weinberg & Stein for 35 years, and the more I reflect on my association with him, the more I appreciate what a privilege it was,” writes Ed Stein ’74. “Jerry was an exceptional lawyer, a true gentleman, and an ideal partner. During the times when it was just the two of us, I used to tell people that we were one of the few firms in Virginia that averaged two listings in Best Lawyers in America per partner. It was a slightly misleading statistic, however, because Jerry had all four of those listings!”

“When Jerry passed away, it was with the same grace that he exhibited in his daily life and in his practice. The day he died, Jerry was honored at a dinner given by the Tidewater Bankruptcy Bar, at which it was announced that from this year forward a member of the local Bankruptcy Bar would receive the Jerrold G. Weinberg Professionalism Award. That same night, Jerry woke up with chest pains and was gone in minutes, never having missed a day of work due to illness. He adopted the motto of one of his heroes, Benjamin Disraeli, ‘never complain, never explain,’ and he never did.”

“Jerry kept the Class of 1950 together with the five-year reunions and with letters with class-related  information,” said classmate and friend Atley Kitchings. “He loved the University of Virginia and his class­mates. Those that remain will always greatly miss him.”

1958

From Ted Torrance, corresponding secretary for the Class of 1958:

A low-key request from your scribe for news resulted, predictably, in a low-key response. Nevertheless, thanks to some of our faithful class-mates, I can pass on bits of information, as follows:

Tom Otis reported from Boca Grande, Fla. (on the Gulf Coast) that he and Mina are enjoying “beach walks, tennis, and peace and quiet.” They have a grand­daughter at Exeter who is considering a career in corporate law. Tom: “Times have indeed changed and, Mina thinks, for the better.” Tom’s thoughts are left unexpressed.

Larry Grim dredged up some old memories, reminiscing about how, during our third year at the Law School, a local Charlottesville beauty was flirting with both Ben Phipps and Larry behind the other’s back. He and Ben later met up at a PX in Ft. Dix, N.J. (Ben being a lieutenant and Larry a private). As a good enlisted man, Larry arranged Bryn Mawr (a women’s college) dates for the two of them, but the flirt’s secret held—“so Ben and I keep in touch.”

Some of our class­mates are utterly dependable. Fred Goldstein dropped me a newsy note reflecting on snowstorms in the Northeast, his prospects of escaping to the South for a bit of the winter, and the passing of some of our classmates. Fred had the occasion to work recently with an attorney from Caplin and Drysdale, who reported that our tax professor, Mortimer Caplin ’40, was still going strong at 99 (ed. note: see related story on Caplin, p. 42). Fred ventured that he is most likely one of the few professors from our time still extant.

Charley Bradley remains confined to bed and wheelchair with corticobasal degeneration. He made the considerable effort to respond to my request for news, and I bet he would love to hear from any of his classmates. He can be reached at cbrad25092@aol.com.

Another dependable responder is Bill Griesar (he being the student dubbed “Mr. Brown” by Professor Gregory after a dispute as to the pronunciation of Bill’s name). Bill and his wife recently moved to a living arrangement relieving him of many domestic chores, ranging from snow shoveling to gardening, tasks now performed by his homeowners’ association. Bill also reported that, after 57 years as a lawyer in good standing, but faced with the burden of satisfying CLE requirements, he has surrendered his license to practice, remarking that, “I am now a civilian once more.” But, he added, “In a way, though, I like to think of it as an act of rationalism, a recognition of who I am and where I am. Probably a healthy instinct, don’t you think? Still, I will always think of myself as a lawyer and was ever happy being one.” Perhaps thoughts shared by many of us who have long since departed the practice.

The literary world has, I believe, largely overlooked the competition for Ibsen, Inge, Hemingway and Wodehouse in the persons of John Oram and Henry Williams, each of whom pursues the avocation of creative writing. John favors short stories, while Henry is a playwright. I have coaxed them both to send along samples of their work, strictly for my own enjoyment, and I must say that they are really quite good. I will leave it to my classmates to pester them for samplings of their creations (which they are, in the truest sense); you will find them most interesting.

Until a couple of years ago, your scribe smugly noted that his various body parts were all original issue, and that all were functioning smoothly. But that changed a couple of years ago with the replacement of an aortic valve with one of porcine provenance, and then, earlier this winter, with the installation of a pacemaker, all designed to keep me more or less upright. All seems to be working well; I am back to my near-daily four-mile walks and will shortly be cleared to tackle the game of golf once again. Ah, the wonders of the modern medical age!

It is never too early to start collecting material for the next issue of UVA Lawyer. I urge you to share information about yourselves by sending it to me by email to: etorr@cox.net, or by regular mail to: 1955 Windward Way, Vero Beach, FL 32963. Happy summers to all! 

1959

Edwin J. Harragan Jr. will retire in September after 51 years of practicing law. He is a partner with Swiger Kelley Harragan & Schott in New York City. He writes that his brother, Jim Harragan, who attended UVA, died in September. 

John William ViaJohn William Via Jr. died on Jan. 9. He entered the Law School in 1953, but interrupted his studies in 1954 for military service in the U.S. Air Force with the rank of airman. He was later promoted to first lieutenant and served as squadron commander.

Following graduation Via joined Woods, Rogers, Muse, Walker in Roanoke, Va. He practiced with Patterson, Belknap & Farmer before becoming a senior attorney with the board of governors of the Federal Reserve, where he focused on bank regulatory matters. In 1970 he became counsel in the legal division of the FDIC, where he worked on bank regulatory and antitrust cases. He retired in 1992.