Class of 1975
(Notes posted in the order they were received, with the newest posts on top.)
Robert A. Buchanan was elected President and Managing Shareholder of Law Weathers & Richardson in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Bob continues his practice representing both commercial and general aviation airports. He also specializes in right of way acquisition and eminent domain.
Kenneth Selvig died suddenly on November 13, 2006, while hiking in Montana, the place he loved best. Born and raised in Outlook, MT, Kenneth graduated from Rocky Mountain College and Vanderbilt Law School and also attended Vanderbilt Divinity School. A gifted musician and athlete, he was an all-state high school basketball champion and was also invited to play football with the Cowboys after college. He maintained a lifelong love of learning and intellectual pursuits, recently earning an M.A. from Florida Atlantic University in history. He also enjoyed fishing and golf. He was a career prosecutor in Florida, recruited to serve under David Bludworth by Daniel T.K. Hurley and serving as chief assistant state attorney and executive assistant state attorney under Barry Krischer. He was widely respected in the legal community for his principled pursuit of justice and high ethical standards. He leaves to mourn a wife, Tanja Ostapoff; children, Sonja Romano (Ryan), Karl, and Kirsten; parents, Agnes and Roald Selvig; and seven brothers and sisters.
William P. Aiken of the Chattanooga, TN law firm of Chambliss Bahner & Stophel has been elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. The foundation is a center for research and study of law, legal institutions and legal processes.
Gerald R. Toner, a Senior Partner at O'Bryan Brown & Toner Louisville, Kentucky, has been elected to the Board of Directors of DRI, the Defense Research Institute. DRI is essentially the voice of the civil defense bar in the United States. Mr. Toner will serve the Southern Region, consisting of Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi for a three-year term beginning this October. Installation will occur at DRI's Annual Meeting to be held this year in San Francisco.
Elliott Warner Jones is of counsel to Drescher & Sharp in Nashville, where he focuses on Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Elliott was previously a member of Husch & Eppenberger. Earlier in his career, he served as senior council at HCA. He began his legal career as law clerk to Chief Judge Harry Phillips of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. A former professional baseball player, Elliott has also served as an assistant scout for several Major League teams. He earned his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt in 1971. His son Warner, an All-American baseball player at Vanderbilt University, will begin law school in August.
Eve Biskind Klothen is the assistant dean for pro bono and public interest programs at Rutgers University School of Law at Camden, New Jersey. She joined Rutgers in 2002.
Curt Welling, president and CEO of AmeriCares, a non-profit humanitarian aid organization delivered the Vanderbilt Law School 2006 Victor S. Johnson Lecture February 7, 2006. Welling leads an organization that delivers emergency medical supplies to areas overwhelmed with political refugees, such as Darfur, and supports long-term health care initiatives around the world. In his lecture "From Sudan to Tsunami: Reflections of a Recovering Investment Banker," Curt described the current situation in Darfur - where more than 150,000 refugees, mostly women and children, live in temporary shelters across the border from Sudan - as a "complex humanitarian emergency."
Do you have news you would like to share or just want to let everyone know what you are up to these days? Submit your class note online, e-mail Grace Renshaw or call 615-322-2606.
Please check the "Alumni MIA" list to see if you can help us find any of your "lost" classmates!
