Brandeis Law mourns death of alumni in 2017

The Brandeis School of Law is mourning the deaths of some of its alumni in 2017.

Carrie Gibson Donald, 68, died Jan. 13. She served as a University of Louisville professor for more than 40 years and was former director of UofL's Labor Management Center.

Jacqueline Kanovitz, 74, died Jan. 18. A 1967 graduate of the law school, she also was the school's first female professor.

Joseph Hays Wimsatt, 90, died Jan. 21. He was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and was president of Wimsatt Building Materials.

Donald Leslie White died Jan. 23 at the age of 82. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran and practiced as an attorney in Louisville for many years.

Bradford "Brad" Dale Carey died Jan. 29. He practiced at Hardy, Carey, Cgautin in New Orleans.

Jack Edward Ruck died Jan. 30. He practiced law until his retirement in 2007 and was a U.S. Army veteran.

Joseph Schwab Jr., 87, died Feb. 4. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and was an attorney with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Cincinnati.

Robert Edward Johnson died Feb. 17 at the age of 89. he was a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard and practiced law in Louisville.

George Edward Riggs Jr. died Feb. 18 at the age of 85. He was a U.S. Army veteran, a CPA and an attorney.

Hall Missourie Warheim died March 5. In addition to being a lawyer, he was an ordained minister with the United Church of Christ.

Fred Goldberg, 90, died April 24. He maintains the highest bar examination score in the state of Kentucky. He was awarded the Lawrence Grauman Award, the law school alumni council's highest honor, in 2003.

Martin Glazer, 93, died April 27. He was an assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Kentucky and a World War II veteran, having served in the Army Air Corps.

Spencer E. Harper Jr. died April 27. He served as a captain in the Air Force Judge Advocate General's office until 1961, when he joined Grafton, Ferguson and Fleischer (now Stoll Keenon Ogden).

James B. "Jim" Lenihan, 92, died May 6. He was a World War II Navy veteran and partner at Hargadon, Lenihan & Harrington.

Amy Taylor Broecker Kessler, 52, died May 18. She was vice president of the Broadway Across America, Midwest Region.

Donald Francis Zeller, 71, died May 26. He was a Vietnam veteran, and his legal career included time with the Jefferson County Attorney's Office, the Kentucky state department of Alcohol Beverage Control and private practice.

Raymond Wayne McGee, 83, died May 27. He practiced law in Harrison County for many years and served as Harrison County Attorney and district judge of the 18th Judicial District.

Bryan C. Pierce, 50, died June 10. He practiced real estate law for 20 years. 

Dave Armstrong, 75, died June 15. He was the last elected mayor of the old City of Louisville and served two earlier terms as Jefferson County judge-executive

Raymond Clooney, 69, died June 21. He was a U.S. Army veteran and had a career with the Louisville Metro Public Defender's Office.

Thomas Blake Merrill, 79, died June 21. He practiced law until he was appointed as a Quarterly Quart Judge in 1970. In 1977, he was elected to the Commonwealth of Kentucky District Court, where he served for 17 years. In 1994 he served in the family court until he retired in 1999.

Raymond "Ray" Savignac Jr. died June 22 at age 85. He was the founder of CSI Computer System.

John S. Palmore, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Kentucky and a 1939 Brandeis Law alumnus, died July 4 at age 99. Palmore was the 1987 recipient of the law school's Brandeis Medal and the 1993 recipient of the Lawrence Grauman Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Law Alumni Council. He was also the University of Louisville's Law Alumni Fellow that year.

Philip Watson Linder died on his 92nd birthday, July 13. He was a decorated World War II veteran and worked as a law clerk to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, practiced law for several years and retired from a career in banking.

Bonnie Kay Flowers Biemer, 77, died July 16. After a career in journalism, she graduated from the Brandeis School of Law and joined the City of Louisville law department, and later became the city's administrator for health and the environment.

Henry M. "Hank" Reed died July 16. He had a successful law practice for many years.

Christian J. Camenisch II died Aug. 12 at the age of 74. He was a world traveler and worked as a criminal public defender in Washington, DC.

Neal H. Dockal, 77, died Aug. 30. He had an "insatiable desire for higher education."

Lois (Troyer) McGrath died Sept. 16 at the age of 92. A 1948 graduate of the former Jefferson Law School, she practiced law with the federal court system for 20 years. She was the federal attorney assistant to Judge Charles Allen in Louisville, as well as other judges.

Robert Brown Veech, 93, died Sept. 20. He was a decorated World War II veteran and became the mayor of the City of Plantation from 1960-1964 and judge of the City of Plantation from 1964-1977.

Sharon Shaw-Dyer died Sept. 30 at the age of 58. She worked in Washington for Vice President Bush during Ronald Reagan's administration.

William Leroy Gibson died Sept. 30 nat the age of 91. He was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, having served in World War II.

Jenna Ray Glasscock, 32, died Oct. 3. She was a member of the Kentucky Bar Association and was a past assistant commonwealth attorney for the 46th Judicial District, which includes Breckinridge, Grayson and Meade Counties. 
She was an advocate for women and children.

Anthony M. Romano, 69, died Oct. 3. He had 30 years of experience in entertainment, finance and software development.

David J. Thompson Jr., age 79, died Oct. 8. His early career led him to the bench as a juvenile court judge. He later established his own law firm and spent much of his later career as a mediator in the County Commissioner's office.

Barbara Lewis died Nov. 7 at the age of 79. Lewis was the first female law dean at the University of Louisville, serving in that position from 1982-1990. After she left the dean's office, she returned to the faculty, where she mostly taught tax law, until her retirement in 2006. After retirement, she continued on as an adjunct professor until 2014.

Thomas E. O'Shaughnessy died at age 91 on Nov. 17. He was a World War II Army Air Force veteran. He served as a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under J. Edgar Hoover in the Philadelphia, Boston and New York field offices. In 1956 he formed a law partnership in Versailles, Kentucky. He also served as Versailles Police judge and 14th Judicial Circuit commissioner.

Leslie G. Houston, 81, died Dec. 8. He was a legal officer (Captain-Judge Advocate) in the Air Force before moving to New Mexico and practicing law. He served 16 years in the New Mexico State Senate where he was elected as president pro tem, Senate minority leader (Republican) and Senate majority floor leader while a member of the minority party. After leaving the State Senate, he was a lobbyist and served as a Bernalillo County Commissioner.