Remembering our classmates lost along the way.

Greg Claycomb

Greg Claycomb was one of the more outgoing members of that collection of strong personalities known as Section 6, and quickly made friends with just about everyone within a hundred yards. He was a member of Moot Court and wrote The Restatement’s “Faculty Spotlight” column, showing a real gift for capturing the human side of the professors he interviewed.

He also had a quick wit and a ferocious sense of humor. Greg was the guy who publicly declared before God, Professor Lockwood, and everybody else in our ConLaw I section that I was the “Michael M.” in Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County, 450 U.S. 464 (1981).

–Mike Morley

John Gruttadurio

I want to thank you dad, for my sense of humor and wicked sarcasm, my passion for Cleveland sports, and for helping me believe I could do anything. I am so, so proud to be your daughter. I’ll never understand why you had to leave me so soon, but just know that the strength that you’ve instilled in me over the years will get me through it all.

–Megan Gruttadurio (originally posted on Facebook)

Murray Lerman

Murray Lerman, our oldest classmate, an experienced financial advisor who became a grandfather during our first semester, died in March of 2006 at the ripe old age of 76.

A true father figure, Murray provided Section 6 with a good role model (and badly-needed parental supervision) during our first year. Here’s a sample of his wisdom, a wonderful essay he wrote for The Restatement giving advice to “non-traditional students” like himself:

     You will begin to feel the questioning stares of classmates and see the raised eyebrows of professors who wonder what in the world the admissions committee was thinking. One professor commented to me last year that he remembers when a woman was an oddity in his class, and now he has to deal with grandfathers.

Do not try to conduct yourself on the same life-style level as your younger classmates. You will find them brilliant and inexhaustible. You, however, will not be able to attend class most of the day, spend four hours at Woody’s, eat dinner, study into the early hours of the morning, get up at dawn, go to a job, and then start the process all over again.

Make friends among your younger classmates. Besides helping you rid yourself of the feeling of an outsider, you will find the association stimulating. You may find yourself acting as a substitute parent figure, so listen with sympathy to their social, sexual, and academic problems. Likewise, you are going to need their support as it gets closer to “making the grades.”

Above all, fight solemnity. For some perverse reason, there is a perception that if you are senior to your colleagues, you are required to act more serious and formal. Laugh! Humor is where you find it, and may be available in the most deadly class. Remember, all this shall pass into fond remembrance someday.

Two years after the tribute to Murray was posted on our 25-year reunion website, we got a comment from one of Murray’s daughters, Lisa Dugan Manor, the mother of that grandchild he had his first year of law school.

I’ve read his article in “The Restatement” before (I believe my sister has a copy), and as a non-traditional student myself (currently in nursing school), it’s always spoken to me. 🙂  He has been my example that you’re “not done until you’re dead, and even then you can go to medical school” (for those unaware, after spending his later years being teased about when he was going to medical school, since it was the only thing he hadn’t done yet, he actually donated his body to the University of Cincinnati Medical School when he died). So thank you, for this lovely memorial and memory.

–Mike Morley

Louis Meiners, M.D.

Dr. Meiners was almost certainly the hardest-working member of our class.  While outlining and reading casebooks with the rest of us, he was also working full time as an obstetrician, delivering more babies than any other doctor in town.  He and his wife Libby were blessed with five children (Tracy, Jeff, Shaun, Michael, and Betsy) and ten grandchildren.

–-Mike Morley

Eileen Mikutovicz

The real Eileen was a good Catholic girl. A loving daughter like few others. Her dear Mom passed away when we were just 1L’s. Looking back to that time and only now fully understanding the loss of a parent, I find it remarkable that she was able to successfully carry on when she returned to school. I think it was her love and concern for her Dad that carried her through. She was a loyal sister and adored her brother-in-law. She was a dear friend too and always understood what it was like for me when I was missing my own family so far from home. Although never really comfortable in her own skin, she was always confident in her ability to analyze most any problem. She always had time to listen to a friend and lend a sympathetic ear and good solid advice when asked.

Life was not fair to Eileen. Mental illness robbed her and the family she loved so dearly. The loss of her beloved Dad, Joe, may have been too much for her to bear. I pray that she is in heaven with her parents now and that those who were hurt so badly by the ravages of her illness have found peace through time and forgiveness. The real Eileen is missed and forever loved.

— Geri Hernandez

Beth Musser

Contributed by H.A. Musser

Beth and her husband, H.A. Musser, had two boys before Beth started law school. Joel was one year old and Austin was three. Beth originally intended to attend Chase due to caring for the boys, but then applied to UC at the last minute and started off part-time. She decided to finish with her class, taking additional classes toward the end to make graduation. She was often seen around the school with the boys in tow whenever her sister/babysitter needed time off….

Beth had received her diagnosis of melanoma before she entered law school and had successfully completed treatment to battle the cancer. After law school, at her 5 year check-up, it was found that the cancer had returned. She was brave in her final battle, holding strong to her faith in Jesus. Her biggest worry was who would take care of her boys. When at peace that H.A. was fully capable, she went home to the Lord on January. 31, 1992.

Read the full text of H.A.’s tribute to Beth here.

Jim Schaefer

Our classmate Jim died on October 28, 2014 after a long illness. Following is the eulogy delivered at Jim’s funeral by his older brother:

…Like Jim, we ourselves wrestle with so many questions about God’s presence. In the many struggles of Jim’s life, in Jim’s downward spiral, and back many years to the death of young James – whose funeral we celebrated right here in this place – and in the many ways we all wrestle with questions. We question God’s presence in the many human errors in our own lives and the lives around us. But as Christian, we are called to notice the presence of God in our lives and to respond to this presence of God in our lives. We are called to accept God loving and forgiving us – always….

I noticed the presence of God near the end of Jim’s life when Jim did notice what Laura wanted him to notice – that we loved him and were present with him in his transition from earthly death to eternal life with God. I believe Jim now knows the fullness of joy when seeing the face of God.

I just wish God well with the many, many arguments that we all know will follow.

The full text can be read here.

Tom Seel

Tom, who passed away in December of 2016, devoted much of his career to representing poor clients through the Legal Aid Society.  He was survived by his wife Laura Amiott and their daughter Olivia Amiott-Seel.

— Mike Morley

Dan Sherman

Dan Sherman was one of the most gentle men I have ever known. Gentle in spirit, gentle in his spoken word. Gentle in his manner of speaking. He was smart and funny. He was kind and inquisitive. He wanted to know about people, where they were from, about their families, about their lives before law school. What a loss to this world when we lost Dan Sherman.

–Geri Hernandez