Oregon State Bar Bulletin — MAY 2002

In Memoriam

Retired Portland attorney Richard T. Clarke passed away Feb.7, 2002 at the age of 78. He was born in Portland on July 14, 1923, where he was raised and attended schools. During World War II, he served in the Pacific theater as a radioman 1st class in the U.S. Navy.

He received his law degree from Northwestern School of Law in 1950 and joined the Oregon State Bar later that year. He then established a partnership with attorney Al McGill, which Clarke remained in until his retirement in 1986. During his years as a practicing attorney, he served as a judge pro tem and also contributed countless hours of pro bono legal representation for those in need.
A firm believer in giving back to the community, he coached little league, served as president of his local Babe Ruth chapter for two years, and was a member of both the Optimists and Eastside Commercial Clubs.

His son predeceased him in 1997. Survivors include his wife, the former Ethel Welch, whom he married in 1945, one daughter and a granddaughter.

• • • • •

Long time Portland lawyer and civic activist Alfred Aubert Hampson died Feb.18, 2002 at the age of 81. Born in Portland, Hampson attended Reed College for one year before transferring to Stanford University. He received his law degree from Harvard University Law School and clerked for a federal appeals judge at the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals before moving back out West again. He practiced law in San Francisco from 1947 until 1953, when he moved to Portland.

Hampson was long concerned about protecting Oregon's scenic beauty. His proudest achievement was writing the Oregon Bottle Bill and lobbying it through the legislature. Once while in France, he noticed that there was very little litter and also the fact that there was a deposit on every bottle in France. After its passage, he took pride in the law, saying 'it has been a great success in Oregon and has been followed in eight other states and in California in a modified way.' He also led a successful drive to ban billboards beside interstate highways in Oregon. He chaired the organization that runs highway kiosks and posts signs along interstate highways listing gas stations, restaurants and hotels, the so-called 'logo signs' that replaced the billboards, which were banned in the '70s. He served on the Northwest Power Planning Council, charged with balancing power production and salmon protection in the Northwest, and on the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council. Hampson was also a founding board member of 1000 Friends of Oregon. He served as chair of the OSB continuing legal education committee and received the bar's highest honor, the Award of Merit, for his service.

Hampson is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, a daughter, three sons, and seven grandchildren - and a more beautiful Oregon as a result of his life's work.

• • • • •

John David Nichols died March 21, 2002 in Portland at age 82. He was born March 20, 1920 in Vinton, Iowa. He attended Vinton schools and received his bachelors' degree from the University of Iowa. During WWII he was a medical corpsman in the Coast Guard. After the war he moved to Salem and attended Willamette University School of Law, where he received his J.D., becoming the fourth generation in his family to become an attorney. Upon graduation, he worked for the Oregon Department of Agriculture before becoming an assistant attorney general under A.G. Robert Thornton.

In the early '60s he opened a private law practice in Portland and later became a vice president and chief corporate counsel for First Interstate Bank of Oregon, now Wells Fargo.

Nichols served on the boards of the Portland Art Museum and the Fruit and Flower Child Care Center. He was selected as 1981 president of the University Club in Portland.

He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Mary Ann, of Portland; three daughters and two sons and three step-children.

• • • • •

McMinnville lawyer Michael Patrick Levi March 20 at the age of 54. He was born in Stevens Point, Wis., graduated from the University of Notre Dame and received his law degree from Willamette University in 1982. After law school graduation he moved to Aloha. He also practiced law in Newberg and then McMinnville for the last four years of his life.

Levi is survived by his wife, Debbie Howard, a son and two step-children.

OTHER NOTICES
The Bulletin has also received notices of the death of OSB members listed below. More detailed notices will appear in the next issue.
John J. Haugh, former OSB president, bar leader and civil rights and appellate lawyer, died April 1, 2002, age 60.
J.T. Monahan, also a former OSB president, bar leader and longtime Milton-Freewater lawyer, died April 5, 2002, age 82.


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