1931

RFD 2, Box 36-A Schnecksville, PA 18078

In less than six months two members of '31 have been in the "Give a Rouse For" column, Line Page in the December issue, and now Vic Herwitz in May. Further to the brief paragraph on Vic in the May issue, you will be interested in highlights from the documents relative to his 1987 Fifty-Year Lawyer Award, sent by his brother, Oren '27.

Vic was notified of his selection by the president of the New York State Bar Association, who wrote, "This cherished award is presented annually to a New York State lawyer who has completed fifty or more years of active practice 'with honor and distinction in accordance with the finest traditions of the bar with service to both his profession and the community.' "

Highlights from the award ceremony program documenting Vic's career were: service as a clerk-investigator for the Seabury Commission even before graduation from Brooklyn Law School and before he was admitted to the bar in 1932; law clerk in the offices of Judge Irving Ben Cooper; appointment to the staff of former Governor Dewey, investigating and prosecuting organized crime figures—and thereby believed to be the only lawyer to have worked on both the Seabury and Dewey investigations; waived draft-exempt status in World War II to enlist in the combat engineers where duty included many senior court martial cases; former Governor Dewey's special counsel to investigate the city welfare department; former Mayor Impelliteri's Chief of General Litigation in the city's Corporation Counsel's office; chief of the Harry Gross investigation for the city police commissioner; private practice during the last years in which he was largely engaged in almost every kind of litigation, although serving as a hearing examiner and trier-of-fact; defending and arguing cases which arose from the alleged exportation of arms to Israel during the first Arab-Israeli War; application of his professional skills to community service by holding key leadership positions in law and civil rights committees of the Anti-Defamation League; chairing committees of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and of other civic organizations; member of the B' nai B' rith Lawyers Lodge, and one of the founders of the Lexington Democratic Club. Some career, Vic! We're proud of you.

George Stevens wrote that the March notes item reporting him as "a retired Washington State Supreme Court Judge" was incorrect, but that after retiring after some 40 years of teaching law, he did serve as a Municipal Court judge and as a parttime District Court judge; also that he sported, not an Amish brush, but a gray Van Dyke. He added that since his quadruple bypass in 1981, he feels better than he has for years no jogging, just walking and that the bypass made him miss our 50th, but probably saved his life.

Betty Steck wrote that after a visit to Florida, where she saw Polly and Sam Groves and John Goodwillie, she has started her garden back in Ohio, and was planning on attending her 55th at Smith in May.

Bob Baumrucker supplements the related item in the March notes with "Ski magazine's comment on Guinness was premature. Shortly afterwards Guinness accepted the article's and my premise that the development of the slalom had been gradual for over 100 years, and that there have been many 'firsts' in that time. Since their interest is records rather than history, they have dropped their one reference to the slolom and have reverted to recording the number of mice that can be stuffed into a freight car, etc. In any case, this Ski article says that this Dartmouth race 'was an epochal event.' "