A
Adams, Virginia Harrison ("Jynx")
Adams died Nov. 27, 1996. She was an appellate attorney until 1953 when she joined her father's real estate firm. (Virginia Pilot of 11/30/96.)
Carolyn E. Agger, a tax partner with Arnold & Porter, died last Thursday, November 7, 1996 at age 87. She was ill for some time with Alzheimer's Disease. She had a sharp legal mind and was an inspiration to those who were fortunate to practice with her. The Washington Post described her as "a tiny dynamo of a woman who smoked cigars, championed rights for women and worked long
hours well into her 70s." (Obituaries 11/9/96.) Carol served in the Tax Division, and following that was the head of the tax practice in the Washington office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison, which practice she brought to Arnold & Porter. She was married to the late Abe Fortas.
The following is excerpted from a eulogy to Ms. Agger that was delivered by Nancy Abramowitz, a former partner at Arnold & Porter, at Ms. Agger's memorial service on November 16, 1996. Jane Bergner obtained the eulogy for the Alumni and confirms that Ms. Abramowitz's description is true. Jane reports that Ms. Agger was an inspiration to many women who have come through the Tax Division. To those of you who knew Carolyn, Mrs. Abramowitz's eulogy will undoubtedly speak for and to you; to those of us who did not know her (except by reputation), this is a reminder that we also have suffered a loss because we did not know her. And we quote --------
CAROLYN AGGER FORTAS
1909-1996
by Nancy Abramowitz"So extensive and diversified have become the activities of the federal agencies and services that the employees of the executive branch alone now number some 800,000." With that line, a young lawyer in Washington made her debut, with byline, in the Yale Law Journal some 58 years ago as she analyzed the possible unionization of federal workers.
Over the years since, the federal workforce went on to increase manyfold; federal workers went on to unionize; and the author went on to a brilliant career in the law.
Allow me to borrow a humble phrase from Carol's well-loved law partner, Thurman Arnold, when I say that I stand before you "not because I am adequate to the task." Rather, I stand before you simply as one who had the privilege of being Carol's colleague, Carol's friend, and a representative of a class of women whose professional opportunities and lives owe so much to this remarkable lady.
Carol was brilliant and insightful. She had a rare intelligence that was harnessed and focused. She could cut to the quick of any problem. And, she had an extraordinary gift of expression characterized by clarity and eloquence.
Carol understood her role as a pioneer among women. But she did not wear a pioneering badge on her sleeve. She entered a legal world of cigar-smoking men and succeeded on her own terms. She took to the cigars but always remained a lady.
It is no secret that Carol did not include children in her list of life's most important things. Perhaps she had no need for her "children", if you will, were the many young professionals whom she sought out, whom she watched over, and whom she cared for. I know I speak for many -- both men and women -- who enjoyed this special relationship with her. But, for the women especially, Carol was a rare breed. She took on a responsibility for herself to furnish that all-important friend and mentor role. And, like any good parent, she did not spare her frank opinions, yet she never failed to encourage independent choice and full support for whatever path was chosen.
Carol had a grace and style all her own. When I think of her, I can only think of a palette of the lushest colors imaginable. As a young lawyer, I remember a visit to a client in Baltimore with Carol and Walter Rockler. Rather than entrust our lives to Walter's driving, Carol engaged a luxurious limousine for the journey. Carol appeared as usual, impeccably dressed in her favorite purple with those well-known open-toed shoes and hat in just the matching shade. More memorable, however, was the picnic basket she had her cook prepare for us with wine, patê, and crackers to make this "very, long" morning trek more civilized.
Throughout her final illness, I could not help but remember an image of Carol that sums it all up for me. It was a special birthday of Carol's in 1979, and the tax department of Arnold & Porter was celebrating the lovely tax library at 1812 N Street's rear carriage house. Carol was perched one or two steps up the spiral staircase there and Abe, who had come to join the party, was standing a step or so below when he raised his glass and proposed a toast. As he did so, he looked at Carol in a way that said so much. The fullness, the goodness, the maturity of their life together; the love, the respect, the bonds between them; their public lives, their private lives -- it was all there in one look.
To my friend, my colleague, my mentor. You have taught me much both in your prime and in your illness. For even as age an disease took over you, those around you still enjoyed and learned from your innate graciousness and beauty. We learned patience. We learned how to extract valuable lessons from more subtle text. And, we learned that you could continue to do as you had always done -- bringing together people who forged new friendships around you.
As we say farewell to you, I suspect there is someone waiting for you now with a very special look in his eyes.
Ron Fischer advises that Mike Ahlen died January 4, 1999. Ron referred us to the North Dakota Supreme Court web site (http://www.court.state.nd.us/court/news/Ahlen.htm) having the following information:
Longtime University of North Dakota Law Professor Michael J. Ahlen, 56, died January 4, 2000.
Professor Ahlen received his law degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1968. He joined the faculty of the UND School of Law in 1981. Professor Ahlen taught trial advocacy, evidence, and alternative dispute resolution.
In 1984, he received the Lydia and Arthur Saiki Prize for Excellence in Graduate/Professional Teaching.
Professor Ahlen gained practical experience in the subjects he taught as a trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice for eleven years and as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Grant County, Indiana, for two years. He had served as an instructor for the U.S. Attorney General’s Advocacy Institutes, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, and the National Judicial College. He was frequently asked to provide lectures and workshops on trial practice, evidence, and alternative dispute resolution.
Professor Ahlen edited the North Dakota Trial Manual, which was published in conjunction with a law school continuing legal education seminar he coordinated. He has also been published in Bender’s Federal Tax Service.
Professor Ahlen was a member of the State Bar Association Committee on Unauthorized Practice of Law, the Supreme Court’s Continuing Judicial Education Commission and its Judicial Planning Committee as well as the State Bar Association of North Dakota Alternate Dispute Resolution Committee.
Selected recent activities: Reviewing Commissioner, North Dakota Continuing Judicial Education Commission; Co-Leader for ND Supreme Court Commission on Gender Fairness in the Courts public meetings; member, American Arbitration Association North Dakota Committee; developed scientific voir dire simulations for students with Psychology Professor Douglas Peters.
Publications and presentations: Ahlen, Opening Statements in Jury Trials: What are the Legal Limits, 71 N.D.L.Rev 701 (1995); Jury Selection, North Dakota Judicial Institute, Bismarck; Advanced Paralegal Skills Program for Legal Assistance of North Dakota, Fargo; The Status of ADR in North Dakota for the Joint Dispute Resolution Committee, Bismarck; The Law and Physical Therapists, a six-hour presentation for Physical Therapy Students.
He is survived by his three children: Ted, Jenny and John.
The memorial service will be held 1/8/2000 at the UND law school. Mail should be sent to the law school and memorials should be made to the law school. The address is: University of North Dakota School of Law, P.O. Box 9003, Grand Forks, ND 58202-9003.
Alumni desiring more information should contact Ron Fischer at 701-775-0521 or rfischer@grandforkslaw.com
Fran Allegra was appointed to the Court of Federal Claims on 10/22/98.
The following is from the Press Release when the President first announced his submission to the Senate.
Francis M. Allegra, U.S. Court of Federal Claims
Francis Allegra, of Vienna, Va., earned his undergraduate degree in 1978, from Borromeo College of Ohio, and his law degree in 1981, from Cleveland State University. Following law school, Allegra served as a law clerk on the Court of Claims for Chief Trial Judge Philip R. Miller from 1981-82, and then as an associate with the Cleveland, Ohio law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey from 1982-84. From 1984 to 1994, Allegra served in the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice, first as a trial attorney, then as special assistant to the assistant attorney general, and finally, as counselor to the Assistant Attorney General. Since 1994, he has worked in the Associate Attorney General's Office, first as counselor to the associate attorney general and then as deputy associate attorney general. In addition, since 1997, Allegra has served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law.
Andolina died on June 13, 1997. Joe Persinger advised of the death by e-mail on 6/16/97. Joe advised as follows:
I regret to inform you that Mike Andolina passed away on Friday, June 13, 1997. Mike was with the General Litigation Section when I joined the Tax Division in 1973. I believe he left a few years after that to join A.T.& T., where he was VP for Federal Taxes at the time of his death. The wake for Mike is this afternoon, and his funeral Mass is tomorrow morning. According to a fax I received from A.T. & T., Mike's family requested that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to a scholarship fund in Mike's name at: West Windsor Plainsboro School District, P.O. Box 248, 505 Village Road West, Princeton Junction, NJ 08550.
Notice of death 8/11/06:
Gilbert Edward Andrews
Gilbert Edward Andrews passed away on August 11, 2006. Gil was born to Harriet Pauline and Gilbert Edward Andrews, Sr. on June 10, 1921 in Chicago, Illinois. He served as a ring gunner on a B-29 in the Pacific during World War II. After completing two years of service, Gil received his undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Chicago In 1948, Gil married Alice Frances Traznik, a law school classmate, and moved to Washington, D.C. Gil started at the Civil Aeronautics Board, but spent the majority of his legal career at the United States Department of Justice, where he served as the chief of the Tax Division's Appellate and Court of Claims Sections and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Tax. In 1980, the Department of Justice gave Gil the Distinguished Service Award, recognizing that his "skill as a trial attorney, appellate advocate and administrator over a career spanning three decades have earned him the respect and admiration of the courts and his colleagues." Gil preferred to be remembered not as a talented lawyer, but rather as "a good soldier, a faithful husband, and a devoted father and grandfather." He loved bridge, travel, tennis, chocolate, and Thornton Wilder's "The Bridge of San Luis Rey." Gil and Alice moved to Tempe in 1993, and lived there until Alice's death in 2003. Gil is survived by his daughter, Kathryn Elizabeth Underwood, and her children, Sarah Elizabeth and Alexander Edward Underwood. Burial will occur on August 16, 2006 at 10:30 A.M. at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix. A memorial service will follow at 2:00 P.M. at Desert Palm United Church of Christ in Tempe, Arizona.Published in The Arizona Republic on 8/15/2006.
http://www.legacy.com/AZCentral/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=18888382
Carr Ferguson's Note on Gil:
Jack –
Thank you for your note about Gil’s death. We were colleagues twice – when he was my senior in the Tax Division of 1954 – 1959 and then when he was a section chief on my return to the Division during the Carter years. Gruff on the outside, kind and funny on the inside, he was exemplified the best of us. I’m proud to have been the AAG who presented him the Division’s Distinguished Service Award in 1980. He had a wonderful common sense about how, when and what to present in a brief and what to leave out. I remember his good nature when Nellie Bishop in the ‘50’s or later Rachel, our librarian during the late ‘70’s, would try to stop his chain smoking in their library. He was there almost as much as they, reading slowly, carefully, with that far-away, thoughtful expression. His advice to me as a young lawyer and later as his AAG, came from years of research and reflection and was more valuable than gold.
Carr
AAG Argrett has resigned her position effective 12/31/99, according to a report in the WSJ of 12/1/99.
The Washington Post reported on 12/13/99 that AAG Argrett will return to teaching law at Howard University where she taught before becoming AAG.
Herb died 3/10/02. The following is from his obituary in the Washington Post dated 3/14/02:
Herbert L. Awe, 70, a retired partner and principal litigator of the now-defunct Washington corporate tax law firm of Lee, Toomey & Kent, died of an abdominal aneurysm March 10 at his winter home in Venice, Fla.
Mr. Awe was a trial lawyer in the Justice Department's tax division from 1957 to 1961. He joined Lee, Toomey & Kent in 1962 and became a partner five years later. He retired in 1989, a few years before the firm merged with the Chicago-based firm of McDermott, Will & Emery.
He was a native of Oak Park, Ill., and a 1952 graduate of Northwest Missouri State University. He was a 1955 graduate of Northwestern University Law School and a member of its law review.
He was a member of Congressional Country Club in Bethesda and a former board member of Army Times Publishing Co.
A former Bethesda resident, he also had a residence in Rehoboth Beach, Del.
Survivors include his wife of 37 years, Sonja Potochney Awe of Rehoboth Beach; two daughters, Hillary Awe of Whitefish, Mont., and Alyssa Awe of Somerville, Mass.; a son, H. Cayce Awe of Rockville; two sisters; and a grandson.
In response to news of Herb's death, alumni sent the following emails:
From Bob Carney:
As many of you know, I worked closely with Herb Awe at Lee, Toomey immediately after leaving the Tax Division. What many might not know is that Herb suffered a serious illness about 7 years ago, where doctors were considering removing him from life support. It resulted in the amputation of part of an arm and a leg, but he survived. He continued to enjoy life, had the same positive outlook, and was an inspiration to everyone who knew him. His spirit could not be defeated.
From George Hrdlicka:
Herb was one of my role models when I started with the tax division in 1958. He was always full of energy and fun to be around. One time our schedules coincided and we wound up at the US Attorney's office in Little Rock at the same time. Each of us had a pre trial set the next day in St. Louis. Herb was driving a little sport car (Triumph, I think) and he invited me to ride with him rather than take a plane. We left Little Rock at about 8 pm and arrived in St Louis early the nex morning. We barely had time to make our respective pre trials and of course neither of us had any sleep. After the pre trials Herb took off for another destination and I headed to the hotel for some sleep. We became pretty good friends after that. I was really sad to hear about Herb's death. He was a special guy.
From Carr Ferguson:
I'm so sorry to read of Herby's death. We were friends in the Trial Section trenches back in the '50's, and I remember bringing his name to the aging second generation of Lee, Toomey and Kent partners in the winter of 1961-2 as the best lawyer in Tax Division for their needs at that time. Herby had a great spirit, courage, a sense of joy in his work and life which infected us all. With his chin up and his crooked smile, he came back from a trip or court appearance with stories of his experiences which we could use for our own work.
The story his friend Bill Kolbe told of the time Herby was struck by a car while crossing Constitution Avenue illustrates his special elan. Herby was hit hard and loudly by the car and dragged such a distance that he was bleeding everywhere and must have appeared near death. Several people ran to his aid. One asked if he wanted a priest. "Priest, Hell!" Herby responded, "Get me a lawyer!" Herby got a lot of us, and kept us as life long friends. Herb and I enjoyed trading stories of our experiences with thoroughbreds in years after the Department, though work in different cities gave us less and less time together. A handsome, eligible bachelor for too long, he waited for the beautiful Sonia. They were a handsome couple and made beautiful children. I'll remember him in bright exuberance of his youth.