Justin W. Batten (1991–2020)
Justin W. Batten ’17 passed away on May 20, 2020, at age 29. Batten was an associate in the antitrust and consumer protection practice group at Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law in New York. Before joining Scott+Scott, Batten served as an assistant attorney general in the New York State Office of the Attorney General’s Antitrust Bureau. At NYU Law, Batten was a teaching assistant to Sheila Lubetsky Birnbaum Professor of Civil Litigation Mark Geistfeld and served as an articles editor for the NYU Journal of Law & Liberty. He was born in Georgia and received a BS cum laude from Georgia State University.
Kenneth Bialkin (1929–2019)
Kenneth Bialkin, a leading corporate lawyer and philanthropist, passed away on August 23, 2019, at age 89. In 1998, as a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Bialkin represented Travelers Group in a merger with Citicorp, which at the time was the largest corporate merger on record and created the world’s largest financial services company. Serving as chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, Bialkin helped obtain a posthumous pardon for Leo M. Frank, who, while serving a life sentence, was kidnapped from prison and lynched in an act of anti-Semitism. Later evidence cast Frank’s conviction into question. Bialkin also served as chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, among other associations. Bialkin taught courses at NYU Law for 18 years. His daughter, Lisa Bialkin ’91, is a graduate of the Law School.
Howard Bindelglass (1929–2019)
Howard Bindelglass ’54, an expert in trusts and estates law and a former adjunct professor of law at the Law School, passed away on September 28, 2019, at age 89. As a student at NYU Law, Bindelglass was a member of the Law Review; after graduation, he served in the United States Army. Bindelglass worked as a legal assistant in the New York Surrogate’s Court, Queens County, before joining Marshall, Bratter, Greene, Allison and Tucker, where he practiced trusts and estates law. Bindelglass later became senior counsel at Phillips Nizer.
William J. Butler (1924–2020)
William J. Butler ’49, a lifelong civil and human rights advocate, passed away on June 7, 2020, at age 96. Sonin- law to noted civil rights lawyer Arthur Hays, Butler co-founded the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program at NYU Law. During his career, Butler twice argued successfully before the US Supreme Court on issues of civil rights. In 1958, Kent v. Dulles established that the right to travel is a liberty that cannot be deprived without due process, and in the 1962 Engel v. Vitale case, the Court ruled that governmentwritten prayers were unconstitutional in public schools. Butler also served as chairman of the executive committee for the International Commission of Jurists and as founder and president of the American Association for the International Commission of Jurists.
John M. Clarke (1941–2019)
John M. “Jack” Clarke ’68, an expert in telecommunication regulation, passed away on December 8, 2019, at age 78. Clarke worked for many years in telecommunications, serving in the legal departments of NYNEX, where he was vice president of law; of the New York Telephone Company, as vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary; of AT&T; and of the Wisconsin Bell Telephone Company. Clarke also served as counsel in the communications, media, and space practice at Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts (now Pillsbury). Clarke was a chairman of the public utility law committee of the New York State Bar Association.
Michael Danilack III (1960–2019)
Michael “Mike” Danilack III ’86, LLM ’90, an expert in international tax law, passed away on August 12, 2019, at age 59. Danilack spent many years working for the Internal Revenue Service, serving as associate chief counsel in the international division and later as deputy commissioner of the large business and international division. In 2018, Danilack retired from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he served as tax principal in the firm’s national tax services’ transfer pricing practice and focused on global taxation controversies. In his spare time, Danilack loved to coach and play soccer, baseball, and basketball with his three sons.
Allan Gerson (1945–2019)
Allan Gerson ’69, a lawyer and legal scholar whose work altered how terrorist attacks are prosecuted in US courts, died on December 1, 2019, at age 74. After successfully lobbying the US Congress to amend sovereign immunity laws in cases of terrorism, Gerson sued the Libyan government, whose agent bombed a civilian airplane above Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The case resulted in a $2.7 billion settlement with the Libyan government— around $10 million for each family Gerson represented. Gerson also served as senior counsel to the American ambassador for the United Nations and worked as a trial lawyer within the US Department of Justice, where he prosecuted Nazi collaborators who had acquired US visas after the war by fraudulently depicting their roles in the Holocaust. In his spare time, Gerson was a successful author, photographer, and jewelry maker.
Morton Hamburg (1931–2020)
Morton “Skip” Hamburg ’57, an expert in media law and a supporter of the Weinfeld Program at NYU Law, passed away on March 30, 2020, at age 89. Born in Brooklyn, Hamburg received his bachelor’s degree from NYU before graduating from the Law School. He was the author of three books on telecommunications, including All About Cable and Making Millions in Telecommunications, and taught communications law as an adjunct professor at the Law School for a number of years. Hamburg also served as of counsel at the New York firm Proskauer Rose. After retiring from the law, Hamburg published two books of photography.
Tanya Heidelberg-Yopp (1963–2020)
Tanya Heidelberg-Yopp ’88, a corporate executive and community leader in her native Detroit, passed away November 13, 2019, at age 56. Heidelberg-Yopp served as interim chief executive officer of United Way for Southeastern Michigan, a social services organization, after having served as its chief operating officer. Heidelberg- Yopp held several top positions in the entertainment field, serving as president of the Motown Center in Detroit; as vice president of law and business affairs at MTV Networks; and as vice president of business, strategy, and operations at Nickelodeon Movies. She also served as a senior vice president, first of sales operations, then of culture, community, and diversity, at Compuware, a software development company.
Lawrence Kartiganer (1934–2020)
Lawrence “Larry” Kartiganer ’58, LLM ’59, an entertainment lawyer at Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman, died on April 11, 2020, at age 86. Kartiganer was a partner in the Beverly Hills, California, firm’s entertainment transactions group and represented clients that included Marlon Brando, Groucho Marx, Gregory Peck, and Andy Williams. Kartiganer began his career at the IRS before moving to Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman, where he practiced entertainment and music law for decades.
Stuart Kessler (1929–2019)
Stuart Kessler LLM ’61, a founding partner of Goldstein Golub Kessler (GGK) and former chairman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), passed away on August 5, 2019, at age 90. A renowned tax lawyer, financial planner, and accountant, Kessler was frequently cited among Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting. In 2008, Kessler moved to the former RSM McGladrey and then to CohnReznick in 2010, where he served as a senior tax director. In July 2019, AICPA honored Kessler with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Personal Financial Planning.
Charles D. Klein (1938–2019)
NYU Law Trustee Charles “Chuck” D. Klein ’63 passed away on August 30, 2019, at age 81. Klein spent many years in finance, and in 1994 he co-founded the private equity firm American Securities, where he was a managing director for many decades and then served as senior advisor until his passing. Klein, a strong supporter of NYU Law, began his tenure on the Board of Trustees in September 2004, and in that year, he established the Charles D. Klein Scholarship for Law and Business at the Law School. Klein was a recipient of the Weinfeld Award, the Alumni Achievement Award, and the Vanderbilt Medal, and was a member of the Council on the Future of the Law School. His legacy is rooted in the Law School’s Law and Business Program, which Klein envisioned and helped bring to fruition. The Charles Klein Scholarship within the AnBryce Program was established in his memory by the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation.
Sally Newman (1982–2019)
Sally Newman ’10, founder of Charleston Legal Access (CLA), died on August 16, 2019, at age 36. At NYU Law, Newman was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar. After graduating from the Law School, she served as an associate attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charleston, South Carolina, and then completed clerkships with Judge Harry Edwards of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Judge Richard Gergel of the US District Court for the District of South Carolina. In 2016, Newman founded and became legal director of CLA, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to serving moderate- and low-income individuals and expanding access to justice in South Carolina.
Arthur L. Nims (1923–2019)
Arthur L. Nims LLM ’54, who served for 32 years as a judge on the United States Tax Court, including four years as chief judge, passed away September 15, 2019, at age 96. Nims worked for the IRS for four years in both New York and Washington, DC, before accepting a position at McCarter & English, where he became a partner. In 1979, Nims was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as a judge on the US Tax Court. He served as chief judge from 1988 to 1992, and then took senior status until he retired from the bench in 2011.
Tracy Rich (1952–2019)
Tracy Rich ’77, former executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, passed away August 1, 2019, at age 67. Rich spent much of his career specializing in life insurance, serving as senior vice president and deputy general counsel of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, among other roles. In 2009, Rich joined Guardian Life, retiring in 2018. Rich also was a lecturer in the University of Connecticut Law School’s graduate tax program. The Guardian Life Tracy Rich Memorial Scholarship within the Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business at NYU Law has been established in his memory.
Doris L. Sassower (1932–2019)
Doris L. Sassower ’55, president and co-founder of the Center for Judicial Accountability, passed away on October 21, 2019, at age 87. Founded in 1994, the Center for Judicial Accountability is a non-partisan, non-profit citizen’s organization working to reform judicial selection and discipline on federal, state, and local levels—advancing the legacy of NYU Law Dean Arthur T. Vanderbilt, for whom Sassower worked. In 1968 Sassower served as president of the New York Women’s Bar Association, and in 1970 she helped found the Professional Women’s Caucus. Sassower was the first woman invited to address the National Conference of Bar Presidents. At the Law School, Sassower was a Florence Allen Scholar.
Leonard Schwartz (1935–2020)
Leonard “Lenny” Schwartz ’59, president and owner of tobacco wholesale distributor Globe Wholesale Company, passed away on June 1, 2020, at age 84. He served as chairman of the board (emeritus) of the New York State Association of Wholesale Marketers and Distributors, as well as chairman of the Tobacco Association of the State of New York.
Miles Stuchin (1953–2020)
Miles Stuchin ’76 passed away January 25, 2020, at age 66. In 1986 Stuchin founded Access Capital, a New York– based asset lender and active investor in early-stage health care companies as well as real estate. He was president of the company until 2017, when he became chairman. Stuchin served on the board of C Therapeutics, a biotechnology research company, and two New York Stock Exchange companies: Diagnostek, a pharmacy benefits company, and Newkirk, a real estate investment trust. Stuchin also served as vice chairman of Horace Mann School in Bronx, New York. He was the managing member of Pine Brook Fitness, home to the New Rochelle Racquet Club, and the Rock Club, one of New York’s largest indoor rock climbing gyms.
Stephen Susman (1941–2020)
Stephen Susman, founder and executive director of the Civil Jury Project (CJP) at NYU Law, passed away on July 14, 2020, at age 79. Co-founder of the law firm Susman Godfrey, he helped build it into one of the nation’s premier litigation firms. Susman established the CJP in 2015 to study the diminishing role of civil jury trials in the American legal system, and the consequences of that decline. His dedication and vision quickly made the CJP a leading voice nationally on these issues. Susman also served on the board of advisors of the Center on Civil Justice at NYU Law and, as an adjunct professor, taught How to Try a Jury Case Intelligently
Edward Yorke (1959–2019)
Edward Yorke ’84 passed away August 28, 2019, at age 60. Yorke was a managing director of the Gores Group, a global private equity firm. He began his career working in finance for the US investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert and Apollo before serving as the vice chairman of Credit Suisse’s investment banking division. Yorke also served as a managing director of Lazard, where he was responsible for the firm’s North America financial sponsor group. Yorke sat on the board of trustees of Greenwich Academy and the board of overseers of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.