David Allan Eldridge passed away on July 15, 2026. A U.S. Army veteran, Eldridge practiced law for over 50 years, specializing in wills, trusts, and probate. A third-generation lawyer, he worked at two other firms before forming Holman, Robertson, and Eldridge.
Gilbert “Buddy” Low passed away on July 14, 2026. A nationally recognized trial lawyer, he practiced with Orgain Bell & Tucker for more then 50 years and received numerous honors throughout his career. Low served for many years on both the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee and the Supreme Court Professional Ethics Committee.
Douglas Duane Behrendt passed away on July 10, 2026. A U.S. Army veteran, Behrendt started his career as an assistant criminal district attorney in Brazoria County, Texas. He went on to practice law in Austin, San Marcos and Lockhart from 1979 until he retired in 2013.
William Willard “Bill” Gibson passed away on June 1, 2026. After starting his career at an Amarillo law firm, Gibson returned to Texas Law and was on the faculty for 33 years, also serving as associate dean for administration and academic affairs. In the early 1970s, he spent two years as an attorney advisor to the Federal Power Commission in Washington, D.C.
William “Bill” Archer passed away on July 4, 2026. Archer served Texas in Congress for 30 years, chaired the influential House Ways and Means Committee, helped negotiate the 1997 balanced federal budget, and later founded the Archer Center in Washington D.C.
William C. Bednar Jr. passed away on June 6, 2026. A U.S. Marine veteran who served in Vietnam, Bednar had a distinguished career in education law—first as general counsel of the Texas Education Agency and then in private practive— and also served as president of the National Organization on Legal Problems of Education.
Daniel Ortman passed away on May 5, 2026. Ortman held many significant legal and engineering-related roles where he worked for companies such as Saudi Aramco, Samsung, and Hyundai. At the end of his career he served as an adjunct professor at Texas Law.
Curtis Kantor passed away on June 12, 2026. He practiced law for 35 years, including more than 20 as a managing attorney for TeleCheck in Houston.
Steven Pfister passed away on June 7, 2026. Pfister worked for various companies throughout his career—mostly in the field of real estate development—including many years as a commercial broker with Real-Tec in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
Thomas Vance McMahan passed away on June 6, 2026. Recognized as one of Texas’ leading oil and gas and commercial real estate attorneys, McMahan spent more than four decades at Vinson & Elkins in Houston. He was on multiple professional and civic boards in the Houston area and also served on the University of Texas Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee.
William “Bill” Kemp passed away on June 2, 2026. A U.S. Navy lieutenant commander and Korean War veteran, William practiced law for over 60 years. He co-founded and chaired the Austin Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral Service and drafted and championed the legislation that established state licensure for home health agencies in Texas.
Brent Howard passed away on May 25, 2026. Brent dedicated 45 years to the practice of law and was selected for membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates, where he served as president of the East Texas Chapter.
Richard Don Coan passed away on May 15, 2026. A U.S. Army veteran who served during the Cold War and later in the Active Reserves, Coan practiced law for 50 years in Stephenville, Texas, and also was president of the Tarleton State University Foundation Board.
Julius Glickman passed away Feb. 24, 2026. Glickman built a distinguished legal career in Houston as the former managing partner of Glickman, Carter & Bachynsky, LLP, becoming one of Texas’s most respected trial lawyers, teachers, and mentors. He served on the board of directors of the State Bar of Texas, taught at the University of Houston Law Center, and lectured widely on litigation, ethics, and employment law. In 2012, he received the University’s Distinguished Alumni Award, followed by the Alumni Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. The Julius Glickman Fellowship in Public Interest Law, administered by the William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law, is named in his honor and awarded annually to an outstanding Texas Law graduate or judicial clerk pursuing public interest work on behalf of underrepresented individuals or groups.
The Hon. Rufus Adcock passed away Jan. 15, 2026. After beginning his career as a prosecutor in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office in 1960, he served as judge of the 297th Criminal District Court, chief prosecutor for the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, and then in 1986, was appointed to the newly created County Criminal Court No. 6, where he served until his retirement in December 1998.
Jason Clarke Marshall passed away on March 31, 2026. Marshall served as a shareholder of Winstead, Sechrest, and Minick before he started the Marshall Firm, specializing in real estate and property tax matters.
Pamela Beachley passed away on April 4, 2026. A double Longhorn, Beachley was a renowned expert in workers’ compensation, and once served as general counsel for the Joint Select Committee on Workers’ Compensation and as executive director of the Business Insurance Consumer’s Association. In her lobby career, Beachley represented business and governmental entities through the 2021 legislative session.
Dudley McCalla passed away on March 29, 2026. A double Longhorn and Navy veteran, McCalla’s successful career in public law started with the Office of the Attorney General and included many years in private practice. He authored “Texas Administrative Law” and received the Trial Lifetime Achievement Award by the Administrative Law and Public Law section of the Texas State Bar.
Arthur Schechter passed away on April 13, 2026. He founded his own law firm in 1976, representing injured clients with a focus on maritime workers. Schechter served as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas under President Bill Clinton and later chaired the Metropolitan Transit Authority in Houston.
James Barksdale Jr. passed away on Feb. 24, 2026. Barksdale had a distinguished career in patent law, first with Monsanto Chemical, then with IBM for 30 years.
William “Bill” Dorsaneo passed away on March 15, 2026. Dorsaneo was a faculty member at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law for more than four decades and was the principle author of the 26-volume Texas Litigation Guide, referred to by generations of attorneys simply as “Dorsaneo’s.” He also served for decades as a member of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee.
Joe Deming passed away on March 17, 2026. Deming worked as an attorney for various oil companies including Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell until his retirement in 2010.
Leslie “Les” Acker passed away March 15, 2026. A double Longhorn, Acker started his career in Midland, Texas, working in the City Attorney’s Office and later serving as the Midland County attorney before relocating to Post, Texas and becoming the Garza County attorney.
Elizabeth Page Kanetzky passed away on March 2, 2026. A double Longhorn with an artistic side that led to an additional degree in interior design, Kanetzky was the owner of Page Kanetzky Design for nearly a decade.
Gary Norton passed away on Feb. 11, 2026. Norton primarily practiced as a civil defense trial attorney, later becoming assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
Terry Scarborough passed away on Feb. 25, 2026. After starting his career at the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, he founded Hance Scarborough LLP and served as a celebrated litigator there for most of his 50-year career. Scarborough earned induction into the American Board of Trial Advocates and the International Society of Barristers.
Sidney Clifton Farrar passed away on Feb. 22, 2026. A retired senior district judge, Farrar led a long career of involvement in the Fort Worth judicial community before joining his son’s law firm as of counsel while also acting as a visiting judge and mediator.
Charles Helms passed away on Nov. 2, 2025. Helms practiced law in Dallas for many years alongside his friend and partner Paul Pesek, then spent his last years teaching theology at the University of Dallas. He was president of his local Catholic lawyer’s guild—the St. Thomas More Society—and was a member of the Catholic Bar Association.
Tom Scott passed away Feb. 1, 2026. In addition to helping build the Bullock, Scott, Neisig and Owens law firm in Midland, Texas, he was a founding member of the Oil, Gas and Mineral Law Specialty Section of the State Bar of Texas.
Robert Carter Wilson passed away Feb. 4, 2026. A double Longhorn, Wilson’s legal career spanned over five decades across three law firms and focused on environmental law, water rights law, and radioactive materials regulation.
Dennis Alvoid passed away on Jan24, 2. 026. Alvoid started his career at Hultgren, Jewell, Kolb, and Ivey specializing in medical malpractice, products liability, and defense law, then later dedicated himself to the juvenile justice system.
Creighton Neil White passed away Feb. 5, 2026. A double Longhorn and veteran who served in the Korean War, he was the Waxahachie city attorney and Ector County attorney before spending over 50 years in private practice in the oil and gas industry.
Russell Burwell passed away on Jan. 8, 2026. Burwell, a double Longhorn, served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army during law school. He worked as an assistant district attorney in Galveston County before entering the personal injury sector and starting his own firm in 1985. Burwell sat on the board of directors of the State Bar of Texas.
Fred Oneal Hull passed away on Jan. 23, 2026. After serving in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps for the U.S. Air Force, he began his legal career at Standard Oil of Texas. Hull later serving as counsel for Conoco before he and his partners established their own firm, where he practiced oil and gas law for more than 50 years.
William Bonham passed away on Jan. 3, 2026. A double Longhorn, Bonham played competitive tennis for the Longhorns and also in the Army when he served after law school. With two colleagues he originally hired as law students, Bonham founded the Houston firm Bonham, Carrington & Fox, where he did trial work for many years before shifting to mediation.
Jerry Weldon Carlton passed away on Dec. 13, 2025. He specialized in tax law, spending over 35 years of his career with the firm O’Melveny & Myers in Austin before retiring to serve as director for various companies and organizations.
Rrachelle Renee’ Douglas Breckenridge passed away in October of 2025. She had a distinguished legal career as a prosecutor and later worked as a municipal attorney for the City of Olathe.
Antony Louis passed away Jan. 13, 2026. A longtime resident of Coppell, Texas, Louis served as associate general counsel and secretary of Contran Corporation and associate general counsel, vice president and secretary of Valhi, Inc.
Stephen Utz passed away on Dec. 9, 2025. Through his nearly 40 years as the Roger Sherman Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut School of Law, Utz became a renowned expert in federal tax law, tax policy, and jurisprudence. He started his law career clerking for Judge Joseph T. Sneed of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco and then practiced for three years as an associate at the tax law firm of Caplin & Drysdale in Washington, D.C. before teaching law.
John D. Stover passed away on Jan. 4, 2026. After serving on the Texas Water Commission, he practiced law in Austin until 1997, representing businesses, industries, government organizations, and other clients in state and federal courts and before the Environmental Protection Agency, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and other forums. He also taught water law as an adjunct professor at Texas Law.
John Reilly passed away Nov. 29, 2025. An Air Force veteran, Reilly practiced oil and gas law in Houston for more than 50 years.
Charles W. Cappel passed away on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, 2025. He began his career practicing admiralty law with the firm of Lillick McHose and, after 15 years, chose to become president of a small family oil company.
Frank Cooksey passed away on Dec. 15, 2025. A double Longhorn, Cooksey served as mayor of Austin from 1985 to 1988. He practiced law for more than 40 years, including roles as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, an assistant U.S. attorney, and special attorney general of Texas.
Jack Eckels passed away on Nov. 7, 2025. He began his legal career with the Cox, Smith Law Firm in San Antonio, then joined Chamberlain Hrdlicka in Houston where he worked as a tax attorney for over 40 years.
Theodore Paul Bulmahn passed away Nov. 11, 2025. Bulmahn founded and served as CEO of ATP Oil and Gas Corporation in Houston, Texas, then went on to build and run GoldMark Farm, a premier property for racehorses.
Michael W. Wood passed away Nov. 18, 2025. After forming the boutique law firm Wood, Campbell, Moody & Gibb, he went on to serve as senior vice president and CEO of the water resources company Azurix, then was a partner at Jackson Walker in Houston.
Jiles David Richeson passed away on Nov. 20, 2025. After starting his career in Washington, D.C., as legal counsel for Congressman Jake Pickle, Richeson moved to Fort Pierce, Florida, where he established a successful law practice in the field of labor and employment law.
Peter William Low passed away on Oct. 18, 2025. After more than 20 years as a solo practitioner with a concentration on local property appraisal and tax law as well as public and administrative law, Low joined fellow property tax attorneys to form Low Swinney Evans & James in 2018.
The Honorable Thomas Bartlett Sehon Sr. passed away on Nov. 5, 2025. He served for nearly 20 years as the Falls County district attorney in Marlin, Texas, then successfully ran for county judge, retiring in 2007.
David Rodriguez passed away Oct. 25, 2025. A double Longhorn, he opened and ran his own law practice, the Law Office of David Rodriguez, in San Antonio.