Monday, August 12, 2019

Death of Bob Watkins (8/12/19)

Robert ("Bob") Stephens Watkins passed was on 7/12/19.  His obituary is here.  The excerpt from the obituary related to the Tax Division is:
Graduating first in his class from American University Law School in 1970, Bob joined the Tax Division through the Attorney General's Honor Program. After several years of outstanding work, Bob was transferred to be a Reviewer in what is now the Court of Federal Claims section. In addition to his supervisory work, Bob handled a series of complicated and important cases involving industry-wide issues common in the major steel companies. In 1985, Bob became an Assistant Chief in Civil Trial Western and in 1995, the Chief of Civil Trial Central. Upon the retirement of Civil Trial Western Chief Jerry Fridkin in 2002,Bob returned to Western Chief of that section. 
During his tenure in the Tax Division, Bob has supervised three trial attorneys who went on to become Civil Trial Section Chiefs.
Other information is in the obituary.

Thursday, August 8, 2019

Death of Phil Brennan (8/8/19)

WAPO has the obituary for Philip ("Phil") Brennan, here, reporting that he died on 8/1/19.  Very nice obituary.   The memorial service is Wednesday, Aug 14 at 12:30 p.m. at The Old Presbyterian Meeting House. Other information is in the obituary.

On his DOJ work, the obituary says:
After graduating from Fairfield University (where he played baseball), he attended Georgetown Law School. Dad had a long and very successful career at the Dept. of Justice where he worked in the area of voting rights in the Civil Rights Division under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and later as a Federal Prosecutor in the Tax Division.
But then on the different side:
Later in life, Dad went back to school and got his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from The Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara Ca. Dad started The Ethos Foundation in the mid 70's with the focus on healing families with alcohol and drug addiction. He lived his faith which was to help people heal. Dad was compassionate and an excellent listener. He practiced Clinical Psychology until his 86th birthday. Dad's hobbies were traveling, cooking, watching the Washington Nationals and lying in the sun. Dad always started his day with daily devotions and Bible reading.