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.
Theodore Thomas “Ted” Hollen III passed away Oct. 13, 2025. Hollen, who pursued his passion for rodeo alongside his law career, worked in the political arena and opened a sole practitioner law firm. He received the 50-years recognition from the State Bar of Texas.
Stuart Alan Morse has passed away. He began his career as an attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission before returning to Texas, where he founded several law firms including Klein Morse; Kroney, Silverman, Mincey; and Kroney Morse Lan.
Charles Robert “Chuck” Helms passed away Nov. 2, 2025. Helms, who spent many years practicing law in Dallas alongside his friend and partner Paul Pesek, was president of his local Catholic lawyer’s guild and served as president-elect of the national Catholic Bar Association.
Timothy Allen “Tad” Dunn passed away Oct. 30, 2025. Following law school, Dunn worked for several law firms throughout his career, most recently with Messer Fort.
Herbert Edward Marsh Jr. passed away on March 7, 2025. For nearly six decades he practiced law as both a private practice attorney and Texas state judge.
Jeb McNew passed away on Oct. 17, 2025. A double Longhorn, he and his wife opened their own law practice, McNew & McNew in Nocona, Texas. He then was elected to serve as Montague County Attorney, a position he held for over two decades.
Manuel Almaguer passed away on Oct. 24, 2025. A double Longhorn, he served in the United States Air Force before spending five decades managing his own law firm until his retirement in 2020.
Donald Rorschach Sr. passed away on Oct. 9, 2025. He served as the assistant city attorney for Waco before becoming the city attorney for Irving, a position he held for over two decades.
Ronald Eugene Holub passed away on Oct. 10, 2023. Holub began his career at the former law firm Newman Shook & Newman and remained there until 1984 when he opened a solo practice.
Keith Clark Carter passed away on Sept. 16, 2025, at the age of 100. A POW and Purple Heart recipient for his service in World War II, Carter was a contracts supervisor for the Continental Oil Company in Houston before moving to the UT Austin Graduate School of Business, where he taught Business Law and Oil and Gas Law as well as while coordinating the Petroleum Land Management Program.
Laurier Bernard McDonald Jr. passed away on Oct. 10, 2025. McDonald served as a special agent with the FBI and as the United States Commissioner before the office was abolished.
Louis Dayne Miller passed away on Oct. 6, 2025. After spending many years in General Dynamics Corporation’s legal department, Miller started his own law practice in Graham, Texas, then served as the Young County attorney until his retirement.
Theodore Thomas Hollen III passed away on Oct. 13, 2025. He began his career at Pearson & Pearson in El Paso, Texas, before launching his independent law practice in Austin, Ted Hollen Attorney at Law. He retired in May of 2025.
James “Jim” Bertrand passed away on Sept. 29, 2025. Bertrand, who served in the Navy for two years before coming to Texas Law, eventually became a partner at Vinson & Elkins, where he worked for over 30 years.
Gary Truman passed away on July 13, 2025. He worked as an employment lawyer at Bradley Campbell Carney & Madsen before founding his own company, Gary Truman, LLC, and working as a landman for 15 years.
Stephen Lawrence Jenks passed away on August 8, 2025. He spent over 31 years with the FBI, working on many high-profile cases from the bureau’s Palo Alto office for the majority of his career.
Jerry Monroe Coleman passed away on Sept. 16, 2025. During his career included he was partner with the Austin office of the firm Long, Coleman, Dugger & Cotton, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Citizens National Bank of Austin, and a real estate developer.
Charles Taylor Gandy passed away Sept. 16, 2025. Gandy, a double Longhorn, served as mayor pro tem in Tarrant County, and was a certified specialist in probate and estate planning, a devoted philanthropist, and a real estate developer.
Thomas Hight Jr. passed away on August 19, 2025. He practiced law at the Dallas-based firm Hight and Hight for over two decades before ending his career as an administrative law judge for the state of Texas.
Senior U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks passed away on Sept. 17, 2025. His federal judicial career spanned over 30 years, becoming a senior judge in 2017 who presided over many of the most high-profile and consequential federal cases in Central Texas.
The Honorable Amy Martin passed away on Sept. 7, 2025. She served a four-year term on the bench of the 263rd District Court of Harris County before returning to private practice and eventually joining the University of Houston Law Center as the director of student advisement.
Will Paxton “Bill” Ellis passed away on Sept. 13, 2025. He established the law firm Ellis, Koeneke & Ramirez in 1982 and spent his legal career serving his clients in the estate planning and probate legal field in South Texas.