Class of 1965
(Notes posted in the order they were received, with the newest posts on top.)
Walter Patton has joined the law firm of Don A McGriff in its Fairhope and Orange Beach offices. Walter began his legal career as a private lawyer in Bay Minette, Florida. He retired after 31 years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, receiving numerous awards and rising from an entry-level lawyer in the Real Estate Division to Chief of the Acquisitions Branch at his retirement, where he was recognized for his expertise in eminent domain issues. During the 1970s, Walter spent two years as a staff member of the Alabama Historical Commission, where he authored several scholarly writings and presentations. Posted 10-31-09
Jane Shaeffer, who was the driving force behind the founding and survival of Tallahassee, Florida's main homeless shelter, died September 9, 2009, from the complications of pneumonia. Jane specialized in domestic law and became the first statewide director of Florida's Guardian ad Litem program. She was among the 20 volunteers and local agencies who banded together in 1987-88 to open a temporary homeless shelter in the basement of First Presbyterian Church. The shelter and became a year-round facility in 1991. In 1989, most of the organizing board members wanted to give up operation of The Shelter and hoped the city would take over the seasonal operation. Shaeffer, not convinced the city would take over and convinced a permanent facility was needed, insisted they stay the course, which led to the eventual year-round shelter. "Jane was definitely the driving force in the origin of The Shelter; it would not be here now if it wasn't for her," said Mel Eby, director of The Shelter since 1990. The Shelter endured criticism from politicians and residents who complain about its visible location and open-door policy. But Shaeffer was an adamant advocate for its chief tenets, insisting that The Shelter welcome homeless people of any physical or mental condition, charge no fees and enforce no limits on how long they can stay. She led the lobbying that persuaded the City Commission to purchase and give The Shelter its building in 1993. She helped assemble the network of churches and groups that donate the nightly meals. In 2004, she and her husband purchased an adjacent building to serve as The Shelter's day center. In 1989 she was Tallahassee's Volunteer of the Year; The Shelter won Tallahassee's Volunteer of the Year award for organizations in 2002 and 2009. A native of Washington, D.C., Jane practiced law in Washington, D.C., and Boston before moving to Tallahassee in 1978. She is survived by her husband of 40 years, retired Florida A&M University architecture professor Ron Shaeffer, two children and three grandchildren. Posted 10-31-09
Thomas Vance Little died March 20, 2009, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.Well-known for his love of history and genteel ways, Little was a historian, attorney and author who wrote several books about Brentwood and Williamson County, the most recent of which was Gently Flows the Harpeth, a collection of his newspaper columns and photographs of the area. A native of Brentwood, where his family has lived since the 1700s, Little earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from Vanderbilt, and completed graduate work at Northwestern University and Cambridge University in England. Until his retirement, Little served as an attorney at Union Bank and later as a trust and probate officer. He was honored for his volunteer work many times over the years, having been named Heritage Foundation patron of the year, Brentwood Chamber of Commerce citizen of the year and Williamson County Historical Society volunteer of the year, among others. Because of his vast knowledge of county history, Little was appointed city of Brentwood historian in 1988. He also chaired the Brentwood Historic Commission for many years. Little donated his books and files to the Brentwood Library, which has dedicated the T. Vance Little Room, where visitors can conduct research on their own. Posted 4-2-09
Maurice Brog died at the Memphis Jewish Home on January 3, 2009. He was 69. He won a Merit Scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with honors, before earning his law degree from Vanderbilt. He practiced love and healing while a long-term patient at the Memphis Jewish Home. Maurice's brother, Avron Brog, earned his law degree at Vanderbilt in 1957.
Leslie A. Nicholson was appointed general counsel of the Government Services Administration by the White House, effective June 9, 2008. Previously, Les was executive vice-president and general counsel of Chevy Chase Bank and prior to that, chairman of the Litigation Department at Shaw Pittman Potts and Trowbridge, now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in Washington, D.C. He continues to serve as the president of the International Lawn Tennis Club of the United States, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary by hosting tennis teams from 20 other countries in Washington, D.C. from August 24 through August 29, 2008. Les and his wife, Laureen, live in Chevy Chase, Maryland, near their children, Erin Nicholson Ortiz (and her two sons, ages 2 and 6 months) and John L. Nicholson, JD/MBA '95. Posted 8-1-08
William J. Rudloff was selected as one of the American Trial Lawyers Association's Top 100 Trial Lawyers from Kentucky.
A scathing report by Mr. Shaheen in 1993, which accused FBI Director William S. Sessions of misuse of government property, led to President Bill Clinton's dismissal of Sessions. In 1989, Mr. Shaheen wrote a 61-page report that said former attorney general Edwin Meese III had engaged in "conduct which should not be tolerated of any government employee, especially not the attorney general."
As the founding director of the Office of Professional Responsibility, Mr. Shaheen conducted investigations of high-ranking Cabinet officials, senior White House employees and more than one president. A job that he thought would run no more than a year lasted 22 years through the tenure of eight attorneys general.
"He was a straight arrow, he was a professional in every sense of the word and he took his job very seriously," former FBI and CIA director William H. Webster said Friday. "He was the go-to guy on any kind of ethical inquiry."
Mr. Shaheen challenged the appearance of oil and gas tax shelters held by Attorney General William French Smith and rebuked Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti, who had denied that he had discussed the investigation of Billy Carter, a registered foreign agent for Libya, with his brother, President Jimmy Carter.
He attacked the Clinton White House in testimony before the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee in 1995 for its failure to cooperate in his investigation of firings in the White House travel office.
His office had asked for two years for diaries or journals kept by deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster, who committed suicide during the investigation. But it was while reading a magazine article that Mr. Shaheen learned that Foster had kept a daily log that the administration had not turned over, he told the committee.
In addition to investigating headline names, Mr. Shaheen and his office also examined misconduct in the ranks of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Border Patrol, Bureau of Prisons and U.S. Marshals Service.
However, his credibility stemmed from his willingness to tackle the misdeeds of top officials, and not just those of the less-powerful. In 1978, his office published the Justice Department's first report on abuses by longtime FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and his inner circle. Mr. Shaheen said at the time that "there definitely would have been prosecutions if the statute of limitations hadn't run." Hoover died in 1972.
Colleagues said Mr. Shaheen's style helped explain how he managed to hold the watchdog position for so long. "He combined a Southern courtliness with an explosive sense of humor, the kind of appreciation usually associated with knee-slapper jokes," said journalist and author Ronald J. Ostrow.
Mr. Shaheen was born in Boston and grew up in Mississippi. He graduated from Yale University and in 1965 received a law degree from Vanderbilt University. He clerked for a federal judge in Tennessee and practiced law in Como, Miss., where he was elected mayor while still in his 20s.
He practiced law in Memphis before joining the Justice Department in 1973 in the civil rights division. Two years later, he was special counsel for intelligence to Attorney General Edward H. Levi. Levi established the Office of Professional Responsibility at the end of 1975.
At the time of its establishment, the office was the only agency in the executive branch that could start administrative and criminal internal investigations. It never had more than 35 lawyers, but it conducted thousands of examinations.
After his resignation in 1997, Mr. Shaheen served as chief counsel and deputy executive director of the congressionally mandated Commission on the Advancement of Federal Law Enforcement. He was also special investigative counsel for an independent review of the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation division. In 2000, he became senior counselor to then-IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti.
He received the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service and two Meritorious Service Awards.
Survivors include his wife, Polly Shaheen of Falls Church; three sons, Michael Shaheen III of Ithaca, N.Y., Timothy Shaheen of Falls Church and Francisco Macedo of Atlanta; four half sisters; a half brother; and three grandchildren.
A former member of the Tennessee State House of Representatives representing Tullahoma, Majors came from the royal family of Tennessee football. His late father, Shirley Majors, was the head coach at the University of the South in Sewanee for 21 years and was a charter inductee into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Three of Majors' brothers played at the University of Tennessee, the best-known being Johnny Majors, who went on to coach UT for many years.
No slouch on the football field himself, Joe Majors played college football at the University of Alabama and at Florida State University. In 1960, he joined the Houston Oilers in the charter season of the American Football League. He played one season there as a quarterback and defensive back.
Majors lobbied for Atlanta-based Community Loans of America, the Tennessee Consumer Finance Association, the Tennessee Hotel and Lodging Association, the Tennessee Oil Marketers Association, and the Tennessee Pawnbrokers Association. He was also a founding member of the Tennessee Lobbyist Association.
Majors is survived by his wife Elizabeth Scokin, sons Frank and Inman, brothers Johnny, Bobby, and Larry, and sister Shirley Ann Husband.
Samuel G. McNamara has been appointed by Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher to fill the unexpired term of Franklin County Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden, who retired in June. "I am pleased that Judge McNamara has stepped up and offered his services to the citizens of Franklin County," Fletcher said in a statement. Forty years as an attorney "make him especially well suited for this role." A native of Danville, Kentucky, Judge McNamara has practiced law in Frankfort since 1966.
Frank Drowota retired as Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court in June 2005, after 35 years on the bench, including service in the Davidson County Chancery Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals. In late June 2006, the Tennessee Bar Association announced that it had named a new annual award for outstanding judicial service after Drowota, who is also the first recipient of the Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award for Outstanding Judicial Service. This past year, Drowota chaired a TBA committee that worked to develop a code conduct to govern judicial campaigns.
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