Death Of David Herwitz (Harvard)

In Memoriam, David Herwitz (1925-2024): Scholar of Tax and Business Law:

David M. Herwitz ’49, Royall Professor of Law, Emeritus, died April 8, 2024. He was 98. A scholar of tax and business law, Herwitz, who taught on the Harvard Law faculty for more than 50 years, is remembered as a beloved teacher colleague and mentor.

 “He taught oversubscribed business-related courses, using humor and anecdotes to make them accessible while emphasizing the ethical dimensions of legal practice,” said John Goldberg, interim dean and Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School. “Long before law schools embraced problem-based pedagogy, generations of students and lawyers learned from his classes how to exercise thoughtful judgment and help clients achieve their goals.”

“David Herwitz was my teacher, my colleague, and my friend,” said John Manning ’85, Harvard’s interim provost and the Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law. “I first got to know him when he taught me accounting in a lively, fun, and engaging way that I still remember vividly 40 years later. He was also one of the sweetest, most generous colleagues you could ever hope to know, and he loved Harvard Law School. We will really miss him.” ...

Continue reading

Death Of Stephen Lind (UC Law SF)

Morris Ratner (Provost & Academic Dean), Remembering UC Law SF Emeritus Professor of Stephen A. Lind:

UC Law SF recognizes the recent and unexpected passing of a giant in the tax law field, Steve Lind, who joined the faculty in 1975 and helped build the nationally recognized tax bench that exists to this day.

“Generations of UC Law SF students found their calling in tax law thanks to Steve’s inspirational teaching and example,” Chancellor & Dean David Faigman said.

For more than fifty years, students across the country learned tax law from textbooks Steve co-authored. Those books and their emphasis on the problem method transformed tax pedagogy.

“I will miss Steve, as will so many others, but I know Steve’s legacy will live on through the UC Law SF tax program he helped to create, through the thousands of students that he taught and that learned from his books, and through all of us whose lives are richer because Steve was in them,” said Senior Director of the UC Law SF Center on Tax Law and Professor of Law Heather Field.

Continue reading

Vermont Law Professor Dies After Suffering Medical Event While Teaching Class

White River Valley Herald, Vermont Law and Graduate School Professor Remembered Fondly: 

A professor at Vermont Law and Graduate School in South Royalton is being remembered for his dedication to his work in the energy and environment fields as well as to his students.

Kevin Jones, who joined VLGS in 2010 and was the director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the college, suffered a medical event while teaching a class and died.

Rod Smolla (President, Vermont), Honoring Dr. Kevin B. Jones:

With deep sadness, I share the tragic news that Dr. Kevin B. Jones, beloved professor and director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment, passed away unexpectedly earlier this week.

Seeking solutions to Vermont's, America's, and the world's energy and environmental policy challenges was the focus of Kevin's career. Before joining VLGS in 2010, he was at the center of the electric power industry transformation in the Northeast as the director of power market policy for the Long Island Power Authority and as the director of energy policy for the City of New York.

Continue reading

Death Of Elliot Manning (Miami)

University of Miami Law School News, In Memoriam: The Many Faces of Professor Elliot Manning

Professor of Law Emeritus and Dean's Distinguished Scholar for the Profession Emeritus Elliott Manning died Sunday, September 10 at 88.

"All of us who had the privilege of being Professor Manning’s colleagues have a profound sense of loss and a deep sense of gratitude for his many contributions to tax teaching and tax scholarship at Miami Law," said Frances Hill, Dean's Distinguished Scholar for the Profession. “He built the Graduate Tax Program into a position of national prominence.  He worked with students who found in his classes their life’s work as leading tax lawyers. ...

Having never been farther north than Virginia Beach, the Atlanta-born Manning left his home and his family in 1951 to start his freshman year at Columbia College in New York City. Manning later completed his juris doctor at Harvard Law School in 1958 and became an expert in tax law.

Before joining the University of Miami School of Law faculty in 1980, Manning was a senior partner in the New York firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP and had yet to consider an academic career. "But I took a sabbatical and taught for a semester at Stanford University," he said in a 2014 interview. "I found I liked teaching, and when the University of Miami needed someone to run the Graduate Program in Taxation, my wife and I came here." ...

Continue reading

Canadian Tax Journal Publishes Special Issue Dedicated To Richard Bird (University Of Toronto)

Following up on my previous post, Death Of Richard Bird (University Of Toronto):  the Canadian Tax Journal has published a special issue in Richard's honor, 70 Canadian Tax J. (SS) 1-354 (2022):

• Heather Evans (Executive Director & CEO, Canadian Tax Foundation), Foreword, 70 Canadian Tax J. (SS) 1 (2022)
• François Vaillancourt (Université de Montréal; Google Scholar) & Robert D. Ebel (Georgia State), The Size, Growth, and Composition of Government: Analysis and Evidence for Canada and the United States, 70 Canadian Tax J. (SS) 5 (2022)
• James Alm (Tulane; Google Scholar), Devising Administrative Policies for Improving Tax Compliance, 70 Canadian Tax J. (SS) 5 (2022)
• Roy Bahl (Georgia State) & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (Georgia State; Google Scholar), Perspectives in Fiscal Decentralization: Challenges and the Unfinished Agenda, 70 Canadian Tax J. (SS) 69 (2022)
• Almos T. Tassonyi (Calgary), Financing Local Government and Development in Canada in the Aftermath of a Global Pandemic: Continuity and Change, 70 Canadian Tax J. (SS) 97 (2022)
• Enid Slack (Toronto), Property Taxes in the Real World, 70 Canadian Tax J. (SS) 133 (2022)
• Sijbren Cnossen (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis), Excise Taxation To Preserve Health and To Protect the Environment: A Review, 70 Canadian Tax J. (SS) 159 (2022)

Continue reading

NY Times: John Jay Osborn Jr., Author Of ‘The Paper Chase,’ Dies At 77

New York Times, John Jay Osborn Jr., Author of ‘The Paper Chase,’ Dies at 77:

John Jay Osborn Jr., who while attending Harvard Law School wrote “The Paper Chase,” a 1971 novel following the tense relationship between an earnest student and his imperious contract law professor that was made into a feature film and then a television series, died on Oct. 19 at his home in San Francisco. He was 77. ...

“The Paper Chase,” Mr. Osborn’s best-known book, tells the story of two antagonists: Kingsfield, an austere, curmudgeonly Harvard elder, and Hart, an industrious first-year student from the Midwest who is trying to survive the cutthroat intellectual world of an elite law school. ...

Although Mr. Osborn said that Kingsfield was a composite of several of his law professors, Martha Minow, a former dean of the law school, said in an email, “I do know that some now long-gone law professors here vied over who was the real model for Kingsfield.”

Continue reading

Death Of Mitchell Engler (Cardozo)

Campus News, Cardozo Mourns the Loss of Professor Mitchell Engler:

With deep sadness, I write to inform you of the death of Professor Mitchell L. Engler. Professor Engler was a highly regarded tax scholar and Professor at Cardozo for 23 years. He loved teaching and influenced generations of Cardozo students, who will remember him as passionate, extraordinarily kind and dedicated to them. He spent hours refining new approaches to teaching, and was relentlessly encouraging to students who were struggling.

Professor Engler was a quintessential tax academic. He combined his extraordinary skills as a tax lawyer with a serious interest in policy issues to create a substantial body of work. He wrote important and interesting articles on major subjects that speak to the core of how the federal government should fairly and effectively tax the public. He explored how we could change from an income tax to a consumption tax, and how that tax could be made progressive. He also considered ways of fundamentally reforming our corporate income tax. These are all big picture issues that are extremely complex, and Professor Engler leant his deep understanding of current law and his creative mind to advance proposals for reform.

Professor Engler will be deeply missed by the entire Cardozo community. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Professor Engler’s name to the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). ...

With sorrow,
Dean Melanie Leslie

Mitchell Lawrence Engler, age 58, of Hackensack, New Jersey passed away on Friday, November 4, 2022:

A graveside service for Mitchell will be held Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 1:00 PM at Gates of Zion Cemetery, 670 Saddle River Road, Airmont, NY 10952.

Calvin Engler, age 92, of Spring Valley, New York passed away on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. Calvin was born in Brooklyn, NY:

Continue reading

Death Of John Donaldson (William & Mary)

Virginia Gazette, Former W&M Law Professor Remembered as a ‘Great and Good Man’:

Former William & Mary law professor John Edward Donaldson, recognized nationally and throughout Virginia for his knowledge of tax law, died Tuesday after a short illness. He was 84.

Donaldson retired after a 35-year teaching career at the college in 2001 as the Ball Professor of Law. Additionally, he worked for years in various leadership capacities with the Virginia Bar Association and served two four-year terms on the James City County Board of Supervisors.

“John Donaldson was a great and good man,” said former William & Mary president and law school dean Timothy J. Sullivan, who joined the law school faculty when Donaldson was already “a respected colleague.” ...

Continue reading

Death Of John Simon (Yale)

YLS Today, Yale Law School Mourns the Loss of Professor Emeritus John G. Simon (New York Times Obituary):

John G. Simon ’53 LL.B., the Augustus Lines Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School, died on Feb. 14, 2022 at the age of 93 in Hamden, Connecticut.

“John Simon was a beloved teacher, colleague, and friend,” said Dean Heather K. Gerken. “His devotion to the School was unparalleled, he pioneered the study of nonprofits and philanthropy, and he shaped the careers of generations of students. We have lost a giant, and we mourn his loss throughout our community.”

Born Sept. 19, 1928, Simon graduated from Harvard College, where he was the president of the Harvard Crimson, before earning his law degree from Yale Law School in 1953. After law school, Simon served in both military and civilian capacities in the Office of General Counsel, Office of the Secretary of the Army, and practiced law in New York with the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison from 1958 to 1962.

Simon joined the Yale Law School faculty in 1962, specializing in teaching and research related to the nonprofit sector and philanthropy, as well as elementary and secondary school education. He also taught courses in contracts, aging and the law, and family law. Simon served as Deputy Dean from 1985–1990, and Acting Dean in 1991.

Continue reading

Death Of Two Villanova Tax Legends: Don Llewellyn And Michael Mulroney

Don W. Llewellyn (Nov. 23, 1935 - Jan. 11, 2022):

Don W. Llewellyn, 86, of Avalon, New Jersey, passed away on January 11th after multiple illnesses compounded by COVID-19. He was preceded in death by his wife of 45 years, Jane C. Doerschuk.

Don graduated from Dickinson College in 1957 and served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1959. He was a Law Review graduate of Dickinson School of Law in 1961 and received his LL.M. in Taxation from NYU Law in 1967.

Don married Jean Kreamer in 1957 and they had three sons: Chuck (Evelyn), Carl (Alicia), and Craig (Lisa). His first marriage ended in divorce. He married Jane Doerschuk in 1976.

Don was a professor of law at several schools, and he established the Graduate Tax program at Villanova University Law School in 1980. He retired from Villanova as a Professor Emeritus in 2006. ...

He is survived by his three sons, and by his six grandchildren: Sean, Kathryn, Evan, Eliza, Jacqueline, and Cate.

Michael Mulroney (Feb. 1932 – Feb. 28, 2022):

Michael Mulroney of Orleans, MA passed away peacefully on Monday, February 28th at the age of 90.

Continue reading

Death Of Art Cockfield (Queen's)

Mark Walters (Dean, Queen’s University Faculty of Law), In Memoriam - Arthur Cockfield:

I am writing with some extremely difficult news. Our colleague and our friend Art Cockfield passed away suddenly on Sunday, January 9, arising from an unsuspected heart condition.

This is very hard and shocking news for all of us.  Our thoughts turn to his family. We will all wish to convey our deepest condolences and sympathies to them during this difficult time.

For the many, many graduates of our law school who had the great fortune to learn law from Professor Cockfield, and for Art’s former classmates, this news will be very difficult to understand and process.

Art was a mainstay of our law school. Art studied business at Western University, obtained his law degree from Queen’s in 1993, and completed doctoral studies in law at Stanford University. He returned to Queen’s as a faculty member in 2001. He was a Full Professor and the Associate Dean of Academic Policy. Art was one of the world’s leading tax law scholars. His work on comparative and international tax law was truly innovative and extremely influential. He was a loyal and dedicated teacher who cared deeply for his students. Art was cherished as a mentor and a friend to so many of us.

Continue reading

Death Of Chris Frost (Kentucky)

Jennifer Bird-Pollan (Tax Prof & Associate Dean, Kentucky; Google Scholar) & Christopher Bradley (Bankruptcy Prof, Kentucky; Google Scholar), Law Faculty Remember Professor Chris Frost:

Institutions come to be defined by the individuals who represent them at their very best. Our friend and colleague Christopher Wayne Frost was a defining part of the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law.  As a graduate of the school (first in his class) and as a member of the faculty for the past twenty-four years, Professor Frost was one of the legends of the law school--part of the soul of the place.

A few remarkably talented teachers can strike fear in the hearts of their students, demanding the very best and accepting nothing less, while remaining beloved.  Chris’s reputation preceded him, and students trembled in anticipation of being “Frosted”-- called on to explain a case or a concept in class.  But his high expectations generated a loyal following of students who’d enroll in whatever class he offered, and many UK Law graduates credit Chris’s teaching with their career trajectories and their ultimate success.  Alums of the law school knew they could always rely on him, and former students regularly connected to share their successes and their failures and to seek the advice of their beloved mentor.

Continue reading

Death Of Judith Welch Wegner (North Carolina)

News & Observer, Judith Welch Wegner (Feb. 14, 1950 - Dec. 3, 2021):

Judith Welch Wegner died on December 3, 2021 after a short illness. She is survived by Warren, her husband of nearly 50 years; a brother, a sister, sister-in-law, two nieces, three nephews and numerous friends. She was 71. She and her husband had moved to Nantucket, Massachusetts following her 2016 retirement as a faculty member at UNC School of Law.

Wegner joined the law school faculty in 1981. She served as dean from 1989-99, contributing in numerous ways to the welfare of the law school, including hiring diverse faculty and staff, implementing an externship program, reforming the curriculum, securing funds for and constructing a major law school building addition, and strengthening ties with alumni and the campus at large. She supported the development of the UNC Festival of Legal Learning (a major continuing education program) and served as director of the program for many years until her retirement. In addition, Wegner served as president of the Association of American Law Schools (1995) and as a senior scholar with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (where she was co-author of Educating Lawyers, published in 2007).

Continue reading

Death Of Leon Gabinet (Case Western)

Remembering Leon Gabinet (1927-2021), Beloved CWRU School of Law Professor:

Leon Gabinet, longtime tax law professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, passed away on Dec. 6, 2021, at age 94. He is survived by his children Sarah (LAW '82), Katie and Ari, as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Born on June 1, 1927, Leon lived an extraordinary life. Immigrant, war hero, semi-professional hockey player, medical student, lawyer, law professor, interim dean, family patriarch—Leon did it all. ...

Continue reading

Florida State Law School Associate Dean Dies From COVID-19 At Age 48

WCTV, FSU Law Associate Dean Dies From COVID-19:

Florida State University College of Law’s associate dean for admissions died Wednesday, Nov. 17, after battling coronavirus, according to a letter from the dean to alumni obtained by WCTV.

Jennifer Kessinger had been at the law school since 2008.

Obituary, Mrs. Jennifer Lynne Kessinger (Jan. 20, 1973 – Nov. 17, 2021):

Hearts are broken today as we announce our loss of beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend.

Jennifer passed quietly after a hard-fought and courageous battle with COVID-19. She was surrounded by her most cherished loved ones and lifelong besties, who will continue to honor her legacy of strength, loyalty, inspiration, humor, and kindness.

Continue reading

Call For Tax Papers: Oklahoma Law Review Tribute To Jon Forman

The Oklahoma Law Review is accepting tax-themed submissions for publication in our upcoming Spring 2022 issue. This issue will honor the late Professor Jonathan Forman, a beloved faculty member who taught tax courses at the University of Oklahoma College of Law from 1985 to 2021. Please submit manuscripts for consideration to Tina Cannon before January 7, 2022. Submissions should be a minimum of 5,000 words, and citations should follow The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020).

Continue reading

Death Of Doug Kahn (Michigan)

Kahn, Douglas Allen 11/7/1934 - 10/22/2021 Tallahassee, FL:

Douglas Allen Kahn, age 86, passed away peacefully on October 22, 2021, at his home in Tallahassee, Florida.

Doug (as he was called by friends) grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina and was a graduate of the University of North Carolina and George Washington University Law School. After law school, he worked first at the Department of Justice and then at a small private firm in DC doing tax law work.

In 1964, Doug joined the faculty at the University of Michigan Law School. He taught there for 52 years until his retirement in 2016. Considered a giant in the field of tax law, he was a prolific scholar of both books and articles on a wide range of topics in tax. However, his first love was always his students. Although he visited at several outstanding law schools throughout his career, the University of Michigan held a special place in his heart. When explaining why he never left despite offers from other schools, he remarked that "I have never had any group of students that I have enjoyed as much as the ones that I've had here."

He was a gifted teacher in the classroom and inspired generations of students, many of whom became tax experts in their own right. More importantly, many of those students also became his lifelong friends.

He also loved (and loved to argue with) his colleagues and could often be found socializing with them in the faculty lounge or at a hosted dinner party with his wife, Mary. He was happy to discuss any topic, be it law, politics, the works of Noel Coward, the tax consequences of a triangular reorganization, or Michigan athletics, just to name a few.

Continue reading

Death Of Jon Forman (Oklahoma)

The Norman Transcript, Jonathan Forman (May 19, 1952 - August 16, 2021):

Jonathan Forman, 69, died Aug. 16 from complications due to a brain hemorrhage. A tax law professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law for 36 years, Forman helped educate hundreds, if not thousands, of future attorneys. At the time of his death, he was the Kenneth E. McAfee Centennial Chair in Law.

Known for his flashy ties and vintage Hawaiian shirts, Forman always looked for ways to enliven tax law and policy. For years, he and his students ran the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program at the Norman Public Library.

Once a long-haired anti-war protester with a fondness for the Grateful Dead, Forman grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, before cutting his teeth on tax law in Washington, D.C. It was in the nation's capital where he met his wife of 38 years. They later made Norman, Oklahoma, their permanent and cherished home. ...

He is survived by his wife, Lani Malysa; sister, Elaine Schwartz, and her husband, Jay Schwartz; two children, Carmen and Neil; his daughter-in-law, Amy, and granddaughter, Margaret.

Due to COVID-19, a celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made at his favorite charity, Food and Shelter of Norman.

30 Tax Profs remember Jon:

Continue reading

Death Of Peter Lederer (Miami) And A Posthumous Update Of A Modest Proposal For Legal Education

In July, I published an op-ed by Peter Lederer (Miami), A Modest Proposal For Legal Education. Deborah Merritt reports that Peter died on Sunday, August 8. He had a long and storied legal career — he was the 17th partner at Baker & McKenzie, General Counsel to Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, and General Counsel to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Debby has published an expanded version of Peter's op-ed on her Law School Cafe blog:

Astute observers of the legal landscape hold that the present system is broken. Legal education, licensure, the inability to produce “practice-ready” lawyers after seven full years of prohibitively expensive training, are all under attack. ...

Can employers who need people to perform “legal tasks” undertake serious efforts to disaggregate the necessary skills? We have learned that it does not take a 1st-year lawyer paid $200,000 a year to review documents in a dusty warehouse. Advances in eDiscovery have brought revolutionary staffing changes in a few short years. A decade ago, Richard Susskind’s Tomorrow’s Lawyers laid out the blueprint for what more can be done. In short, if the skills required are known, and if employers are prepared to hire people with precisely those skills, we can move away from the one-size, “JD required” model that now burdens us. Little prior education is needed for some law jobs, and training could be done in a few months. Others might require some years of undergraduate work before such specialized training.

Continue reading

Former Dean And Tax Prof Martin Dickinson: 48 Years Of Dedicated Service To Kansas Law School

Stephen W. Mazza (Dean, Kansas), Martin Dickinson: 48 Years of Dedicated Service to KU Law, 69 U. Kan. L. Rev. 1 (2020):

The University of Kansas School of Law has a 142-year history.1 During that time, several KU Law faculty have devoted forty-plus years of service to the institution and its students. But only one holds the record for the longest period of service: former dean and Robert Schroeder Distinguished Professor of Law, Martin B. Dickinson (1938–2020). From the time he was hired in 1967 to his retirement from the Law School in 2015, an estimated four thousand KU Law students witnessed his skills as a classroom instructor and they, along with thousands more, benefitted from his leadership of and dedication to KU Law. This brief Article includes facts known to many. It also includes anecdotes and occurrences less well-known, particularly to those who met Martin later in his career and after he stepped down as dean. It is a tribute to an individual who spent his professional life in service to his students and colleagues. ...

At this retirement party, Martin’s former students, his friends, and his admirers generously donated to a fund in his honor. After chatting with him about how the Law School might use that funding, we eventually settled on a teaching award for faculty. Martin made it clear that the students should be given the honor of selecting the award recipient. He carefully crafted the criteria and insisted on procedures that would encourage students to participate in the selection process. At the same time, he wanted to reward those faculty who challenged students to think critically, who set clear learning outcomes, and who were available to students outside of class.

Continue reading

Death Of Frank Doti (Chapman)

Remembering Fowler School of Law Prof. Frank Doti:

The Chapman Family suffered a tremendous loss on July 14 when Fowler School of Law Professor Frank Doti was tragically killed in a car accident while travelling with his family. A member of the law school faculty since 1996, Doti founded both the Fowler School of Law’s Tax Law emphasis program and its Tax Law Clinic, and taught such courses as Contracts I and II, Federal Income Taxation, and Estate and Gift Tax Law.

“One cannot speak about the Fowler School of Law and its rich history without inevitably talking about Frank Doti,” said Fowler School of Law Dean Matt Parlow. “He was as well-known in the world of tax as he was well-loved by his students, and we will miss our beloved friend and colleague.”

Proving his popularity among students, Doti received the M. Katherine Baird Darmer Outstanding Professor of the Year Award in 2012, and one of his former students, Chapman University Trustee Zeinab Dabbah, M.D. (JD ’12), made a generous gift to name Kennedy Hall’s room 142 the Frank Doti Lecture Hall in his honor.

Continue reading

Death Of Richard Bird (University Of Toronto)

Richard M. Bird, Professor Emeritus of Economic Analysis and Policy at the University of Toronto, died suddenly on Wednesday June 9, 2021, at the age of 82:

He will be deeply missed by his loving wife Marcia, his family (Paul, Sandra, Marta, Abbey) and his grandchildren (Austin, Spenser, Jack, James, Rose). At his request, a private family service will be held. In lieu of flowers, donations to Doctors without Borders would be greatly appreciated. Sign the Guestbook.

From his Toronto faculty webpage:

Richard Bird is Professor Emeritus at Rotman; Senior Fellow of the Institute for Municipal Governance and Finance, Munk School of Global Affairs; Distinguished Visiting Professor, Andrew Young School of Public Policy in Atlanta; and Adjunct Professor, Australian School of Taxation and Business Law in Sydney. He has lectured and published extensively on tax and public finance issues in many countries. He currently chairs the Advisory Group of the International Centre for Tax and Development at the Institute for Development Studies (UK). 

Current research interests include tax policy, tax administration, local finance and intergovernmental fiscal relations particularly in developing countries.

His Google Scholar numbers are extraordinary:

Continue reading

Death Of Jack McNulty (UC-Berkeley)

SFGATE obituary, John McNulty:

John Kent McNulty, professor emeritus at Berkeley Law and a man of letters, music, and the arts, died Saturday, Sept. 26, at his home in Berkeley of an apparent heart attack. He was 85.

Jack, as he was known by many since childhood, was an accomplished legal scholar who specialized in federal income taxation and international tax. He joined the faculty at Berkeley Law (then Boalt Hall School of Law) in 1964 and taught full-time until his retirement in 2002. The law was his true north, and his community of scholars sustained him; he continued to visit his campus office every weekday until the COVID-19 pandemic precluded it.

An invitation to join the Berkeley Law faculty prompted Jack, his wife Linda, and their three young children, Martha, Jennifer, and John Jr., to pack up and head west, arriving just in time for the Free Speech Movement and all the social, political, and personal change that would ensue. Jack and Linda, both born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., welcomed the waves of change, eager for their children to grow up in a more just and democratic society.

Continue reading

Remembering Ed Kleinbard (USC)

Following up on my previous posts (links below) on the death this summer of Tax Prof Ed Kleinbard (USC) (November 6, 1951 - June 28, 2020):  USC Law Magazine: Remembering Professor Edward D. Kleinbard:

In early March, on the day before he entered the hospital for what turned out to be his final surgery in a long and brave battle with cancer, Edward D. Kleinbard, Robert C. Packard Chair in Law at USC Gould School of Law, did what friends and loved ones called “quintessential Ed.” 

He sent his publisher the final manuscript of his second book, What’s Luck Got to Do with It?: How Smarter Government Can Rescue the American Dream (due early 2021 from Oxford University Press), a follow-up to his 2015 book, We are Better Than This: How Government Should Spend Our Money.

Kleinbard’s death on June 28, at 68, made national news and sparked tributes from his colleagues at USC Gould.

One of the nation’s preeminent tax scholars — whose unusual career arc took him from a renowned New York law firm to Capitol Hill to USC — Kleinbard never dabbled. He pursued anything he took up with passionate intensity. ...

Continue reading

Death Of Former Case Western Dean Peter Gerhart

Press Release, Remembering School of Law Professor and Former Dean Peter Gerhart:

Peter Gerhart, longtime professor and former dean of the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, passed away on Feb. 7, 2021, after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He is survived by his wife Ann, his children and grandchildren. He was 75.

His daughters Gracie and Mary have been members of the Case Western Reserve community— Gracie is a third-year student at the law school and Mary previously worked in research administration.

“Peter was a phenomenal colleague, whose warmth and wisdom were shared widely throughout our faculty,” said law school Co-Dean Jessica Berg. “We will miss him for his many contributions to our school, but even more, for his smile.”

Continue reading

Death Of Rennard Strickland, Native American Law Pioneer And Dean Of Four Law Schools

University of Virginia School of Law Press Release, In Memoriam: Native American Law Pioneer Rennard Strickland:

Rennard Strickland, a pioneer in the movement for Native rights and a legal historian who received two law degrees from the University of Virginia School of Law, died Jan. 5 at the age of 80.

Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Strickland was of Osage and Cherokee heritage. In a career that spanned teaching and leading numerous law schools, he served as dean of four: the University of Tulsa, Southern Illinois University, Oklahoma City University and the University of Oregon. He was most recently senior scholar in residence at the University of Oklahoma Law Center, where he helped introduce Indian Law into the University’s legal curriculum. The author, editor or co-editor of 47 books and 208 essays, book chapters and articles, he was frequently cited by courts and scholars for his work as revision editor-in-chief of “Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law,” considered the authoritative text on the subject.

Obituary: Rennard Strickland (September 16, 1940 - January 5, 2021)

Continue reading

Celebration Of The Life Of Ed Kleinbard

Following up on my previous posts (links below) on the death this summer of Tax Prof Ed Kleinbard (USC) (November 6, 1951 - June 28, 2020):  check out the wonderful video Celebration of the Life of Ed Kleinbard (slideshow).

Continue reading

Death Of Guy Maxfield (NYU)

New York Times obituary, Guy Maxfield:

Guy B. Maxfield passed away on August 19. He was the beloved husband of Carol (Tunick); adored father of Susan (McCullough), Guy Stephen Maxfield and Kim (Pillemer); dear father-in-law of Daniel Pillemer and David McCullough; and loving grandfather of Abigail Rose McCullough, Maxfield Jonathan and Lucas Hudson Pillemer.

He was born in Galesburg, IL to Guy W. and Isabelle Maxfield, and grew up in Rock Island, IL. He attended Augustana College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1955. He attended Law School at the University of Michigan and graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif in 1958. After Law School he joined White and Case. He practiced there for several years before becoming a member of the Tax Law Faculty at New York University School of Law in 1962. After retiring as a Professor of Law in 2000, he continued to practice Tax Law in New York City. As a legal scholar, he was the co-author of Federal Estate and Gift Taxation, as well as numerous articles on the Tax Law.

Continue reading

Death Of Gersham Goldstein

Gersham Goldstein:

Gersham Goldstein, z"l, died Aug. 6, 2020, at age 81. He is survived by his wife, Pauline, and daughter, Deborah, and her husband Magid, daughter-in-law Jennifer, and his four grandchildren, Noah, Krystal, Logan and Jakob. He was preceded in death by his son Marcus in 2015.

He was a prominent Portland tax lawyer and an active member of the Jewish community. He served as president of the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland from 2009 to 2011. He also served on the boards of the Robison Jewish Home, Congregation Neveh Shalom and Greater Portland Hillel. He was also active with Chabad in Portland for many years.

Gersham was born in Brooklyn, New York on Dec. 5, 1938. After matriculating at City College of New York with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1959, he attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1962. Immediately following graduation, Gersham took a position as a research assistant for Gerald L. Wallace at NYU who became a significant influence in his career.

In 1963 Gersham drove to Oregon to work for Oregon Supreme Court Justice Alfred T. Goodwin. Over his early career he worked for Governor Mark Hatfield, Jacob Javits and taught at New York University and the University of Cincinnati. In the mid 1970s he and his wife, Pauline, returned to Portland where he took a position at Davies Biggs, which later became Stoel Rives, from which he retired as partner.

From Jack Bogdanski (Lewis & Clark):

My friend and former partner, Gersham Goldstein, died of cancer on Thursday. He was 81.
Gersh was a tax lawyer, nationally known and for many years the pre-eminent tax practitioner in Oregon. Before going into law practice, he had been a law professor at the University of Cincinnati and the first law clerk of the Oregon Tax Court. He was the editor-in-chief of the journal Corporate Taxation for more than 45 years, up to the time of his death.

Gersh was a collaborator (that's the guy who does all the work) on the Seventh Edition of Bittker & Eustice's corporate tax treatise. "B&E," as it's known, is the best known book of all time on U.S. income taxation. In the 20 years since the Seventh Edition appeared, no one has been able to update the whole thing, as Gersh did. No one has been crazy enough even to try. He was also the "compiler" (again, the source of the elbow grease) for a publication known as the Index to Federal Tax Articles. Back in the day before computerized tax research, it was the bomb.

Continue reading

Death Of Mason Gaffney (University Of California, Riverside)

New York Times:  Mason Gaffney, Who Argued for Taxing Only Land, Dies at 96, by David Cay Johnston:

Mason Gaffney [personal website] ... went on to become an academic economist who for decades led the Georgist movement, which promotes taxing only land as the most effective, efficient and environmentally sound way to finance government.

Professor Gaffney died at 96 on July 16 at Loma Linda University Medical Center, not far from the University of California, Riverside, where he taught economics for 37 years. ...

Taxing land is less intrusive than taxing income or estates, Professor Gaffney taught, drawing on Henry George’s influential 1879 book, Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry Into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want With Increase of Wealth: The Remedy, reportedly the best-selling popular book in America in the 1890s.

Professor Gaffney and other Georgists maintained that taxing land, but not buildings, would encourage property owners to erect high-quality structures and improve existing ones. The property-tax system in place today imposes more taxes when a room is added to a home or when a commercial space is spruced up. ...

Continue reading

Dedication Of The Jim McGoldrick Faculty Office At Pepperdine Caruso Law

Dedication of the James M. McGoldrick, Jr. Office:

Earlier this summer, our law community mourned the loss of our beloved professor Jim McGoldrick. In the wake of his passing, members of the Pepperdine Caruso Law family joined together to honor his legacy of almost 50 years of service to the school. As a result, the Jim McGoldrick Memorial Law Scholarship was created and will be used to provide scholarship support to students in need.

Additionally, those who were closest to Professor McGoldrick sought to honor their departed friend by organizing an effort to permanently name his office at the school the James M. McGoldrick, Jr. Office. Amongst the organizers were Professors Harry Caldwell, Colleen Graffy, Anthony Miller, Ed Larson, and Steve Schultz. Together, they raised over $30,000 to support the office naming in just under 5 hours. "We are deeply moved by the efforts of the Pepperdine Caruso Law community coming together to honor Jim in such a significant way," said Harry Caldwell, professor of law and longtime friend of Professor McGoldrick. "He will be dearly missed and remembered always."

Continue reading

Death Of David Sicular (Paul Weiss)

In Memoriam: David Sicular, July 17, 1957 – July 17, 2020 (July 19, 2020):

The Paul, Weiss community mourns the loss of our beloved friend and partner, David Sicular, who passed away on July 17, 2020 — his 63rd birthday. There are no words to describe the pain that we are experiencing after his tragic and unexpected passing.

A Harvard College (’78) and Harvard Law School (’83) graduate, David joined Paul, Weiss as a summer associate in 1982 and was a partner for 25 years. A revered practitioner and a fixture of our Tax Department, David will be greatly missed by all who had the good fortune to know him — including his clients, several of whom have relied on his counsel for decades.

David is celebrated for his brilliance, his zeal for his practice and his uncanny ability to solve his clients’ most complex problems. He is also remembered for his kindness and his dedication to and love for his family. Upon learning of his passing, scores of clients and legal and business leaders across the nation reached out to offer their condolences along with professional and personal tributes to David.

Continue reading

NY Times And National Tax Association Tributes To Ed Kleinbard

Following up on my previous posts:

• Death Of Ed Kleinbard (June 29, 2010)
• L.A. Times: Farewell To Ed Kleinbard (July 2, 2020)
• WSJ: Tax Lawyer Ed Kleinbard Reinvented Himself As A Crusading Professor (July 6, 2020)

New York Times (Jesse Drucker), Edward Kleinbard, Tax Lawyer Turned Reformer, Dies at 68:

Edward Kleinbard, a prominent tax lawyer who helped global corporations find creative ways to cut their taxes before he moved to academia and shined a light on the practices of the types of companies he had once advised, died on June 28 in Los Angeles. He was 68. ...

Mr. Kleinbard’s career cut an unusual arc. He spent more than 30 years as a corporate tax lawyer, helping companies and financial institutions on Wall Street and elsewhere cut their tax bills. He then devoted the last decade to the cause of raising taxes, as a means of combating inequality and poverty. As a member of the law school faculty at the University of Southern California, he used his insider’s expertise to show in particular how multinational companies avoid taxes.

Continue reading

Virtual Memorial Service Today Celebrating The Life Of Michael Lang (Chapman)

Following up on my previous post, Death Of Mike Lang (Chapman):

Remembering Professor Michael Lang September 17, 1951 - June 28, 2020 It is with great sadness that we report Chapman University Fowler School of Law Professor Michael Lang passed away on June 28 due to complications from a recent stroke. A faculty member since 2002, Professor Lang was the founding director of the law school’s Tax LL.M. program and taught such courses as Federal Income Taxation, Ethics in Tax Practice, and Corporate Taxation. Prior to joining Chapman, he taught at nine different law schools over the course of his career, including 19 years at the University of Maine School of Law, where he also served for a time as associate dean for academic affairs. Before entering the legal academy, Professor Lang practiced law at the global law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. He received his B.A. from Harvard University and his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif. A virtual memorial service for Professor Lang, hosted by the Fowler School of Law, will be held via Zoom on Friday, July 10 at 10:30 a.m. PDT. We hope you can join us to celebrate his life and career. [You can join me at the virtual memorial service here.]

Update:  Dean Matt Parlow announced at the service that Chapman Law School will honor Mike by awarding each year the Michael Lang Excellence in Scholarship Award.

WSJ: Tax Lawyer Ed Kleinbard Reinvented Himself As A Crusading Professor

Following up on my previous posts:

• Death Of Ed Kleinbard (June 29, 2010)
• L.A. Times: Farewell To Ed Kleinbard (July 2, 2020)

Wall Street Journal (James Hagerty), Tax Lawyer Reinvented Himself as a Crusading Professor (July 4, 2020):

Traveling through Europe as a boy in the 1960s, Edward Kleinbard cultivated a precocious interest in medieval history and instructed his parents on which “shabby abbeys” they should appreciate.

The young scholar later aspired to become a history professor. His father, Martin Kleinbard, a partner at the law firm of Paul Weiss, cautioned that academic pay might not allow him to indulge expensive tastes in bicycles and travel. So Edward Kleinbard enrolled in law school at Yale.

Those studies launched him into a 30-year career as a prominent Wall Street tax lawyer at the law firm Cleary Gottlieb. Mr. Kleinbard finally entered academia as a law professor at the University of Southern California in 2009. The delay in launching his academic career was “just long enough for me to have something useful to say,” he wrote. ...

Mr. Kleinbard died June 28 at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 68 years old and had been under treatment for cancer. Shortly before his death, he completed another book—What’s Luck Got to Do With It?—due to be published [by Oxford University Press] in 2021. ...

Continue reading

L.A. Times Farewell To Ed Kleinbard (USC)

Following up on Monday's post, Death Of Ed Kleinbard (USC):  Los Angeles Times (Michael Hiltzik), Farewell to USC’s Ed Kleinbard, 68, a Peerless Champion of the Public Interest: 

A couple of things set Ed Kleinbard apart from the army of tax experts who spend their hours delving into the minutiae of tax law.

For one thing, he was smarter than most of the others. But more important, having developed his store of knowledge at an elite corporate law firm and then as a top congressional advisor, he chose to deploy it in the public interest — as a professor of law at USC, as a widely-read commentator on tax policy and as the author of an indispensable book on how to make fiscal policy function for the betterment of American life.

Kleinbard died Monday at 68, following a long battle with cancer. He had been my guide through the thickets of tax policy since I first profiled him in 2014 and a source for dozens of columns since then. He was always gracious, lucid and amusing when I pestered him for his insights, even during his bouts with illness toward the end. His passing will be profoundly felt by his family, his colleagues, my readers and a world that is immeasurably poorer for the loss.

Let’s learn why.

We can begin with his career trajectory. After graduating from Yale Law School in 1976, he moved into corporate law, rising to a partnership at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. In 2007 he jumped to the public sector as chief of staff to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, then joined USC’s Gould School of Law in 2009.

“Only people who are practicing law at a very high level know exactly how corporations do things like move income around to minimize taxes and the other tax games major corporations play,” says Kleinbard’s friend, cycling companion and USC Law colleague Gregory Keating. “And most of the people who have that kind of knowledge are working with the companies. Ed had that expertise and was committed to coming up with solutions as an academic and a policy person that were public-spirited and public-minded.”

Coupled with that was an engaging persona that his colleagues remembered as “funny, loyal, passionate, and acerbic,” as Daniel N. Shaviro of NYU Law School put it in a valedictory on the TaxProf blog.

Continue reading

Death Of Mike Lang (Chapman)

Los Angeles Times Obituary, Michael B. Lang:

September 17, 1951 — June 28, 2020. Born in Washington, DC, he was the son of Sue and Ezra Lang. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Harvard College, and the Neshaminy High School in Langhorne, PA. He was a full-time faculty member of Chapman University School of Law since 2002. Prior to that he taught at several other law schools including the University of Maine where he served as associate dean and Professor of Law. Professor Lang was active in the American Bar Association Section of Taxation where he held several committee chair posts and served as moderator of many panels. He was the author of numerous books and articles on taxation. Michael was an avid reader, tennis player, environmental champion and foodie. He will be remembered for his wit, intelligence, and kind heart.

He is survived by his son Leonard Lang, daughter Julie Lang, and his brother, Jonathan Lang.A memorial service is planned for 2021 at Hillside Memorial park in Los Angeles, CA. Memorial donations in lieu of flowers may be made to any organization designed to protect the environment.

You may leave a message of condolence for Mike's family here.

Message from Chapman University Provost Glenn Pfeiffer:

The Fowler School of Law mourns the loss of Professor Mike Lang, who passed away due to complications from a stroke he suffered last week.

Continue reading

Death Of Ed Kleinbard (USC)

From Joe Bankman (Stanford):

I am sorry to report that my great friend (and co-author), Ed Kleinbard (USC), died last night.  The cause of death was cancer.

Ed was a towering presence in our field and is well known to members of this group.  He had every ability a tax lawyer and academic could want: an amazing knowledge of doctrine, great analytic skills, and great passion.  He was a wonderful writer: clear, folksy, funny, and rhetorically strong.  He was motivated by a strong belief in justice and equal opportunity. 

I am sure that there will be a festchrist in his honor and that we will have an opportunity to reflect on his contributions.  I didn't ask the family anything about memorial services. I am guessing it will be small, private and (like everything else these days) on-line.   I would guess that his wish for us would be to work for tax and fiscal reform and justice -- and to consult his many works for guidance.

I got to know Ed well after moving to Southern California. He graciously agreed to speak at Pepperdine three times:  at my tax policy workshop series in 2015 and 2017, and most poignantly at the Critical Tax Conference in 2019 in the midst of his long battle with cancer. As Joe says, Ed was a towering presence in every sense, but what I will remember most is his biting wit, self-deprecation, and abiding belief that "we are better then this." 

Dan Shaviro (NYU), In Memory of Ed Kleinbard:

I wanted to express my very great grief, both personally and professionally, regarding the death of Ed Kleinbard, who succumbed last night to a vicious cancer that he had been fiercely, bravely, and creatively battling for many years.

Continue reading

NY Times: Michael Cooper, Convicted In Tax Scam, Dies A Prisoner At 66

David Cay Johnston (New York Times), Michael C. Cooper, Convicted in Tax Scam, Dies a Prisoner at 66:

For decades Michael C. Cooper ran small-time investment and marketing scams in Topeka, Kan., repeatedly clashing with securities and consumer protection agencies. He mocked their actions as inconsequential and ineffective.

Then, in 1997, as Senate hearings in Washington were dramatizing supposed abuses of taxpayers by the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Cooper saw an opportunity to profit from public resentment of the tax system — and to move up from a local flimflam artist to a national one.

He launched Renaissance/The Tax People, a tax-avoidance business that ultimately ensnared about 50,000 Americans — until a Kansas state judge shut the firm down in 2001, ruling that it was an illegal pyramid scheme of a “fundamentally deceptive nature” that had cost customers and investors at least $84 million.

Tried, convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, Mr. Cooper never got out. He died on April 3, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed without stating a cause.

Continue reading

Death Of Former UConn Dean Hugh Macgill

Hartford Courant, Obituary: Hugh C. Macgill:

Hugh C. Macgill, the witty and charismatic dean of the University of Connecticut School of Law from 1990 to 2000, died Feb 13, 2020. He was 79. Construction of the Thomas J. Meskill Law Library was Macgill's signature achievement as dean. Asked in 2010 what his vision of the new library had been, he replied with typical lucidity, "Space to put the books in, damn it!" ...

Known for his trademark bushy owl-like eyebrows, Hugh Macgill was an antic intellectual provocateur, whose command of history and language captivated many, infuriated some, but piqued all. While he infused his love of books, classical music, wine, the outdoors, the law school, and baseball with an ironic mischief, in his heart he channeled a fierce compassion for others and a deep conviction in the truth of the rule of law.

Continue reading

Death Of Martin Dickinson (Kansas)

KU Law Community Mourns Passing of Former Dean:

The University of Kansas School of Law community is mourning the passing of former dean and longtime professor Martin Dickinson, who died Jan. 5 in Estes Park, Colorado. He was 81.

Dickinson was KU Law’s longest-serving faculty member. He gave 48 years to the law school, from when he started teaching in 1967 until his retirement in 2015. He served as dean from 1971 to 1980, overseeing a time period that included the dedication of the law school’s current home at Green Hall.

He was a visionary leader, advocating for the advancement of diverse and female law students and faculty well before the legal profession as a whole began to do so, said Stephen Mazza, dean and professor of law. “He was also a fantastic classroom teacher who truly cared about his students,” Mazza said. “KU Law alumni across the nation frequently recognize him as one of their favorite professors.”

By Dickinson’s own estimate, 4,000 law students passed through his classes during his nearly five decades as a professor. In a recollection of his tenure for the fall 2015 edition of KU Law Magazine, Dickinson described his time as “a fascinating ride that included revolutionary changes.” ...

Continue reading

Death Of Robert Gordon: 'College Dropout Made Name As Tax Maven'

Wall Street Journal, College Dropout Made Name As Tax Maven:

Robert N. Gordon, a college dropout, became one of the most-quoted U.S. experts on stock-market trends and tax-efficient investing.

“To make a move solely for tax purposes is silly, but to ignore taxes when investing is equally as foolhardy,” he told The Wall Street Journal a year ago. He was quoted in the Journal more than 100 times in the past 35 years, most recently in November.

Mr. Gordon, who was founder and president of New York-based Twenty-First Securities Corp. and whose bedtime reading included the tax code, died Dec. 14 at home in Manhattan. He was 66 and had been under treatment for lung cancer.

“He would exploit inefficiencies or errors or inconsistencies in the tax code wherever he found them,” said Robert Willens, an accounting and tax adviser. “He was the best I’d ever seen at that.” His strategies survived “withering scrutiny” from tax authorities, Mr. Willens said. ...

He is survived by two children and his sister, Wendy Gordon, a law professor at Boston University.

Continue reading

Death Of Former IRS Commissioner Mortimer Caplin At Age 103

Bloomberg Law, Mortimer Caplin Leaves Legacy at IRS, Top D.C. Law Firm:

Mortimer Caplin, who helped shape the IRS and a major Washington, D.C. law firm, died July 15 at the age of 103.

Caplin was IRS commissioner under former President John F. Kennedy and later co-founded Caplin & Drysdale. As IRS chief, he worked to make the agency kinder and friendlier, according to an obituary from his alma mater, the University of Virginia.

Scott Michel, a member at Caplin & Drysdale who has been at the firm for nearly four decades, said that Caplin played a key role in the firm’s culture.

“Those of us who are old-timers around here frequently comment that the tone and culture and the level of excellence that we aspire to, you can trace right back to the tone and culture and level of excellence that Mort Caplin conveyed,” Michel said.

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in a statement that Caplin had a powerful personal story and career of public service, highlighting his time at the IRS and as a beachmaster at Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion in World War II.

“Indeed, throughout Mort’s incredible life, his service and dedication personally embodied what it takes to preserve America and its way of life. He will be missed,” Rettig said.

Continue reading

Death Of Jeff Sherman (Chicago-Kent)

In Memoriam: Professor Jeffrey G. Sherman:

The Chicago-Kent College of Law community mourns the death of Professor of Law Emeritus Jeffrey G. Sherman, a one-of-a-kind professor who served as an institutional conscience to the law school for 32 years. He passed away recently at the age of 72.

“Jeff Sherman was a gifted teacher, a fabulous colleague and a zealous defender of the integrity of the English language,” says Chicago-Kent Dean Harold J. Krent.

Sherman joined the Chicago-Kent faculty as an associate professor in fall 1978. Over the years, he taught the courses in Estates and Trusts, Gift and Estate Tax, and Employee Benefits Law. Prior to joining the law school, he was an assistant professor of law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1976 to 1978. He also was a visiting professor at Harvard in 1993 and 1995 and also visited at University of California Los Angeles in 1990, the University of Miami in 1987, the University of Illinois in 1983, and the University of Arizona in 1981.

Continue reading

Death Of William Brown (Pittsburgh): 'He Made Tax Law Fun'

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Obituary: William J.W. Brown, a Longtime Pitt Law Professor Who Made Tax Law 'Fun':

Anyone who thinks tax law can’t be fun probably didn’t have William J.W. Brown as a professor.

The longtime Squirrel Hill resident so excelled at explaining the intricacies of federal and estate tax law to legions of attorneys-in-the-making at the University of Pittsburgh Law School that even those who had no intention of ever advising a client on such matters often ended up taking his upper level classes anyway, just to hear him teach.

“He was just so affable, and committed to what he was doing as a professor,” said Larry Frolik of Oakland, a longtime friend and colleague.

Mr. Brown was so good, in fact, that at his retirement party in 2000, he discovered someone had anonymously donated $1 million to the school in his honor. ...

After earning a degree from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in 1963, he took a job with a law firm on Wall Street. To his mother’s dismay, it wouldn’t last; Catholic invited him back to teach, and he quickly discovered he loved it, said his wife of 35 years, Eliza Brown. 

Continue reading

Ed Outslay (Michigan State) Died While Throwing Batting Practice To High School Team He Coached For 24 Years

Professor Ed Outslay Passes Away:

On May 20, the Broad College lost a beloved friend and mentor: Ed Outslay, Deloitte/Michael Licata Endowed Professor of Taxation.

During his tenure at the college from 1980 to 2019, Ed was known as a passionate academic, impactful mentor and devoted community volunteer. ...

Over the course of his long and distinguished career, Ed gathered a remarkable list of accomplishments. He was the co-author of three tax textbooks, testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and made presentations to the Treasury, IRS and Office of Tax Analysis. He won numerous awards from the Broad College and MSU, including the Distinguished Faculty Award, Presidential Award for Outstanding Community Service, Withrow Teacher-Scholar Award, Curricular Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Award and department teaching and research awards.

Continue reading

Death Of Ron Hjorth (University Of Washington)

Dear UW Law Community:
It is with great sadness that I announce the death of Dean Emeritus Roland L. Hjorth, the Garvey Schubert Barer Professor of Law, on Monday, May 6. He was 83.

While I only had the pleasure to meet with Ron a few times, I know he was a treasured colleague, mentor and friend. He was a visionary leader and legal scholar, as well as recognized expert in taxation, international law and litigation. His wisdom, legendary hospitality and kindness will be greatly missed.

A celebration of life service will be held at the law school later this summer, and more details will be shared as soon as they are available. In the meantime, please send condolences and correspondence to Ron’s daughter, Heather Hjorth, by email at [email protected] or by mail at 5636 NE Keswick Drive, Seattle, WA 98105-2856.

Continue reading

Death Of Charles Kingson

New York Times Obituary, Charles Kingson:

Charles Isaac Kingson (Charley) of New York City died peacefully on February 26, 2019 in the company of his wife and daughter. He was 80 years old and had spent his career as a tax lawyer. Born in New York City, he attended the Horace Mann School and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College and Harvard Law School. A longtime partner at Willkie, Farr and Gallagher, he served as the Treasury Department's deputy international tax counsel under the Carter Administration, where he wrote the initial regulations under section 367 of the tax code, establishing rules for reorganizations and liquidations involving foreign corporations. A gifted pianist, conversationalist and thinker, he spent his later years teaching his craft at New York University Law School, Yale Law School, Penn Law School and Columbia Law School. He leaves his beloved wife, Nancy Sharf Kingson, and daughter, Jennifer A. Kingson, and two grandchildren, Valerie Kingson Bloom and Jeffrey Kingson Bloom.

Continue reading

Death Of David Laro (Tax Court Judge)

David Laro, Senior Judge of the U.S. Tax Court, died on Friday, September 21, at the age of 76.  From the family:

We are planning a celebration of David’s life at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, September 27th at 2:30 p.m. We will be sitting shiva at Marlene and Andrew's house (8203 Hampton Oak Court, McLean, VA) after the service until 9:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Judge David Laro Scholarship in Taxes at NYU School of Law and the Judge David Laro Tax Law Scholarship at USD School of Law.

From David's Tax Court biography:

Continue reading

Death Of Former IRS Commissioner Sheldon Cohen

Washington Post, Sheldon S. Cohen Dies at 91:

Sheldon S. Cohen, a tax lawyer and certified public accountant who helped set up the first presidential blind trust, for Lyndon B. Johnson, and then helped fully computerize the IRS as Johnson’s commissioner of internal revenue, died Sept. 4 at a nursing home in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 91. The cause was complications from congestive heart failure, said a grandson, Reuben C. Goetzl.

Continue reading