Joaquin Bernas (1932–2021)
Joaquin G. Bernas, LLM ’65, JSD ’68, a Jesuit priest and a member of the constitutional commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, taught for many years at Ateneo de Manila University School of Law, where he served two terms as dean. He also served as president of Ateneo de Manila University from 1984 to 1993.
Martin Blackman (1928–2021)
Martin Blackman LLM ’57, the former president of the Skirball Foundation, served as a corporate lawyer for more than 60 years, most recently as of counsel at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. As president of Skirball, Blackman helped provide philanthropic support to the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at NYU, among other initiatives.
Nicky Block (1992–2021)
Nicky Block LLM ’15 worked as a solicitor in the office of the director of public prosecution in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. She had previously held positions at the NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation and the Aboriginal Legal Service in Sydney.
Lawrence Byrne (1959–2020)
During his career, Lawrence Byrne ’84 served as deputy commissioner of legal affairs for the New York Police Department (NYPD), a federal prosecutor, a partner at Linklaters, and a managing director of the Freeh Group. In his four years as NYPD’s top lawyer, Byrne helped craft new legal strategies for the NYPD, including shaping new policies after a court banned the use of stop-and-frisk.
Maximillian D’Agostino (1934–2020)
As the nephew of Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg (1920) and Max Greenberg (1919), Maximillian D’Agostino had strong family ties to NYU Law. Through his involvement with the Filomen M. D’Agostino Foundation, he helped establish the Filomen M. D’Agostino Scholarship Fund at the Law School.
Phyllis Davies (1929–2020)
Phyllis Davies ’74 worked as a computer programmer before attending NYU Law. After graduation, Davies worked as legislative counsel to former assemblyman Oliver Koppell, and then served as counsel for New York City’s finance commission and tax commission, and later as an attorney in the office of corporate counsel.
Robert Fitzpatrick (1975–2020)
Robert Fitzpatrick ’04, an attorney in private practice in Newton, Massachusetts, was a former litigation associate at Debevoise & Plimpton and former clerk to US District Judge John Koeltl of the Southern District of New York. He represented individual clients in a range of matters, including contracts, litigation, trusts and estates, and real estate closings.
Barbara Judge (1946–2020)
Barbara Judge ’69 worked in corporate law before being appointed a commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission—the youngest person to hold that post—in 1980. Judge went on to hold many posts in banks, corporate boards, and British regulatory bodies, including serving as the first female chair of Britain’s Atomic Energy Agency; as chair of Cifas, the United Kingdom’s fraud prevention service; and as chair of Britain’s Pension Protection Fund. In 2010, she was made a Companion of the Order of the British Empire, in honor of her accomplishments in finance and nuclear power regulation.
Paula Levitt (1921–2021)
A Brooklyn native, Paula Levitt LLB ’43 served as president of Brooklyn’s Women’s Bar Association and as acting vice chancellor for legal affairs at the City University of New York.
Michael Marion (1978–2020)
Michael Marion LLM ’05, a partner at Mayer Brown, was a practice leader in the tax transactions group, one of the youngest members of the firm’s management team. He joined the firm in 2005 after receiving his LLM at NYU Law. Marion advised clients on the tax aspects of structured and leveraged finance transactions, capital markets transactions, and securitizations.
Guy Maxfield (1933–2020)
Guy B. Maxfield, professor emeritus at NYU Law, specialized in the areas of income taxation and estate and gift taxation. Among his many career accomplishments, Maxfield co-authored Federal Estate and Gift Taxation in 1967, the landmark treatise in the area; consulted for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the US Treasury Department; and taught estate and gift taxation courses for attorneys at the National Office of the Internal Revenue Service.
John McCaffrey (1935–2020)
John P. McCaffrey ’67, LLM ’74 spent his legal career in the airline industry, starting in a position at American Airlines before moving to Pan American, where he served as the vice president for industry, helping expand international routes into China and parts of Russia. In 1992, he became senior director of external relations for the International Air Transport Association, a position he held until his retirement in 1999.
Barbara Ann Rowan (1938–2020)
The first Black woman to be appointed a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, Barbara Ann Rowan ’68 also served as assistant director of the Federal Trade Commission. She worked at South Bronx Legal Services and in private practice before joining the US Attorney’s Office. In 1980, Rowan founded the investigative consulting firm Rowan Associates, where she worked with her husband, a former FBI agent, for 35 years.
Victor Russo Jr. (1938–2020)
A longtime trial attorney with Allstate Insurance Company, Victor D. Russo Jr. LLM ’73 received the Individual Service Award from Allstate in 1997 for his dedication to excellence in legal practice. In the late 1970s he worked with plaintiffs counsel representing US veterans in Agent Orange litigation.
Tom Sarff (1958–2021)
Tom Sarff joined NYU Law in 1986. During his tenure at the Office of Student Affairs, he oversaw the operations of the Law School’s student journals and Moot Court Board, planned numerous symposia, and managed law journal subscriptions.
Harvey Sladkus (1929–2020)
Harvey Sladkus ’61, a longtime arbitrator, worked for 50 years in private practice. He served as a first lieutenant in the US Army during the Korean War, earning a Bronze Star. A Weinfeld Associate, Sladkus lectured in family and matrimonial law and served as an adjunct professor at Benjamin Cardozo School of Law.
Lynn Strudler (1943–2021)
Lynn Strudler ’78 served as director of placement at Boston University School of Law, NYU Law, New York Law School, and Barnard College. Strudler also served on the board and as president of the Women’s Counseling Project at Barnard College, as president of the National Association for Law Placement, and on career planning and development-related committees of the American Bar Association and NYC Bar Association.
Henrietta Turnquest (1947–2021)
Henrietta Turnquest ’73 was among the first women of color to serve in the Georgia General Assembly, and the first Black woman to serve as assistant floor leader. Turnquest worked in private practice in addition to representing DeKalb County in Georgia’s House of Representatives from 1990 until 2002. In 2003, she became the first Black woman to be named to the board of the directors of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.
Richard Weill (1943–2021)
Richard “Dick” Weill ’67, a Root-Tilden Scholar, served as president of MBIA, a major insurer of municipal bonds and complex mortgage-backed securities. He had been a partner at Kutak Rock before joining MBIA as general counsel. A dedicated Weinfeld Patron and reunion committee member, Weill was committee chair for the Root-Tilden 50th anniversary.
Stanley Westreich (1936–2021)
Stanley Westreich ’60 helped found and run the Washington, DC–based commercial real estate firm WestField Realty. He was also a long-standing board member of Signet Banking and a founding board member of Capital One Financial, where he worked until 2008.
Richard Wong (1935–2020)
Richard Wong ’69, a longtime immigration attorney, was a name partner at Gim & Wong in New York City’s Chinatown. Originally a mechanical engineer, he served in the US Navy and earned an MBA at what is now NYU Stern before enrolling at NYU Law. Wong helped found the Chinese-American Lawyers Association, served as a director of the Asian-American Legal Defense League, and served on the board of NYU Law’s Alumni Association.
Ahmed Zaki Yamani (1930–2021)
Ahmed Zaki Yamani MCJ ’55 served as Saudi Arabia’s oil minister from 1962 until 1986. He also became a top official for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. After his tenure as minister, Yamani joined Investcorp, a private equity firm, before he founded a market analysis group, the Center for Global Energy Research.
Posted September 9, 2021