Portland attorney Paul W. Dudley died May 4, 2005 of an apparent heart attack while working out at a gym. He was 50.
Dudley was born in Evanston, Ill., in 1954 and graduated with an English degree from Simpson College in Iowa. He fell in love with Oregon while on a hitchhiking trip during the 1970s, and shortly afterward moved here in his VW Beetle. He attended Lewis & Clark College’s Northwestern School of Law, and worked as a public defender before establishing his own practice in downtown Portland.
Dudley was well known for making friends, loving music and offering a wealth of sayings that came to be called "Dudleyisms" by those who knew him. He enjoyed the Oregon Country Fair because it combined his favorite things: music, food, art, wonder and the chance to meet new people.
Dudley married his wife, Sandra Beadling, a former legal secretary, in 1985, and the pair had a daughter in 1996. Dudley is survived by Sandra, their daughter, and a sister.
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Martin (Marty) W. Rohrer died June 12, 2005 at the age of 59 after a short battle with cancer.
He was born in Portland in 1946 and grew up in Woodburn. He earned his bachelor’s and law degrees at Willamette University and received an LL.M in taxation from Georgetown University. He was an avid Sigma Alpha Epsilon alumnus.
Following law school, Rohrer was an officer in the Navy and remained in the Naval Reserves, retiring as a commander in 1998. His legal career started in Washington, D.C., as a legislative assistant to Oregon U.S. Rep. Al Ullman, and as an attorney advisor in the Office of Tax Legislative Counsel in the U.S. Treasury Department.
Rohrer first entered private practice as an associate with Portland’s Hardy, Buttler, McEwen, Weiss & Newman, and later was a partner with Eichsteadt, Bolland, Engle, Schmidtman & Rohrer in Woodburn. He served as a Justice of the Peace for Marion County, and from 1987 to 2002 was vice president and trust officer at both U.S. Bank and the Bank of California. In 2003, he joined Bullivant Houser Bailey PC in Portland as an attorney of counsel in the tax, estate planning and wealth management group.
Rohrer was active in many civic groups, serving as president of the Woodburn Rotary and the Oregon Hope & Health Center. He was a member of the Estate Planning Council of Portland and the Lake Oswego Planning Commission, and Trustee of Portland Rotary Charitable Trust.
An avid runner, Rohrer completed the Portland Marathon 28 consecutive times. He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; their two daughters, two sisters; and three brothers.
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Former Baker County Circuit Court Judge Lyle R. Wolff died June 21, 2005 in Salem. He was 85.
Wolff was born in Nebraska and graduated from Harvard Law School. He served as a bomber pilot during World War II before moving to Oregon to start his legal practice in Baker County. Wolff was circuit court judge in Baker County from the late 1950s until 1977 when he lost a re-election bid to William Jackson. He then moved to Salem where he served as an administrative law judge.
Along with intelligence and a bit of eccentricity, Wolff was well known for bringing his poodle, Socrates, to work every day.
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J. Anthony Giacomini, 74, died June 1, 2005 of pulmonary fibrosis. Anthony had been a member of the Oregon and California Bars since 1956.
Giacomini started his private civil practice on April 1, 1957 in Klamath Falls, Oregon and was still working the morning he died 48 years later. He represented farmers, ranchers, small and large businesses, retirees, wage earners and low-income clients in Klamath, Jackson and Lake Counties in Oregon, and Modoc and Siskiyou counties in California. He was an AV rated lawyer in Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Attorneys.
Due to a spinal injury at birth, Giacomini was severely disabled and confined to a wheel chair during most of his life. Nonetheless, he graduated with a bacherlor’s degree from the University of Portland, with honors, in 1953 and attended Stanford University School of Law, obtaining a J.D. in 1956.
His style of practice was often reminiscent of the familiar phrase, "ask no quarter and give none." It was akin to the philosophy he had applied to himself throughout his life. He always strove for excellence and never settled for half measures. He never let his physical limitations prevent him from achieving what he set out to accomplish in life.
Giacomini loved practicing law. He truly enjoyed his clients as much as he enjoyed the intellectual challenges of practicing law. Giacomini authored a chapter entitled "Initiating Probate" for the Oregon State Bar Continuing Legal Education text, Administering Oregon Estates (Oregon CLE 2004.) He also lectured on such topics as "Ethical Dilemmas in Elder Law."
Since 1985, Giacomini wrote a monthly column for Seniors Magazine, a publication of the Klamath Falls newspaper, the Herald & News. Those articles formed the background for a book he had written just prior to his death, entitled Money Is Thicker Than Blood. The book has been since distributed and is now available through iUniverse Books, wwwiuniverse.com, and at Shaw's Stationary in Klamath Falls. The fictitious fables in the book would be interesting reading for any attorney, and particularly those in the probate and elder law fields.
Giacomini is survived by his wife of 43 years, Sydney, a daughter two grandchildren.