In memoriam: July-August 2025

John Theodore Ahlquist, age 80, of Chesterfield, on March 1, 2025. Ahlquist graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1968. He practiced law for more than 50 years and served in the U.S. Army. 

Hon. Kenneth Mack Brison I, age 59, of Florissant, on April 26, 2025. Brison was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1994. He was a partner at a law firm before starting The Brison Law Firm in St. Louis. He was a judge for Bland and city attorney and prosecutor for Berger. 

Larry D. Coleman, age 74, of Kansas City, on May 9, 2025. Coleman graduated from the Howard University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1977. He was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, and later opened a private practice. 

Michael Vincent Conger, age 76, of Scottsdale, Arizona, on March 27, 2025. Conger graduated from the University Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1975. Conger practiced law for nearly 50 years, specializing in employee benefits law. He was an author and editor of several publications. 

Steven B. Farabi, age 77, of Daphne, Alabama, on April 28, 2025. Farabi graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1982. 

Dave Fenley, age 70, of Kansas City, on March 9, 2025. Fenley graduated from the Washburn University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1979. He spent 38 years working at Blackwell Sanders, now Husch Blackwell. He spent the final years of his career at Dentons practicing commercial real estate law. 

Hon. John H. Fraze, age 87, of Kansas City, on May 15, 2025. Fraze graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1971. Fraze was a prosecuting attorney and associate circuit judge for Nodaway County. He served as an administrative law judge and regional chief judge for the Social Security Administration. Fraze served in the U.S. Air Force. 

Hon. Gerald Furnell, age 72, of Lee’s Summit, on May 17, 2025. Furnell graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1995. He was vice president at Furnell Construction before becoming a solo practitioner in Lee’s Summit for more than 30 years. Furnell was a municipal judge. 

Erica White Garrett, age 57, of Kansas City, on Aug. 30, 2024. Garrett graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1994. Garrett worked for 27 years as a law clerk at the Federal Bankruptcy Court. 

Hon. Thomas Francis Gordon, age 82, of Kansas City, on Jan. 25, 2025. Gordon graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and received a Master of Laws in trial practice from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. He was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1967. Gordon practiced law with his father and brother for three decades at Gordon & Gordon. Gordon was president of Avila College in Kansas City and then became a federal administrative law judge in Sacramento, California. Gordon served in the U.S. Army. 

Sam F. Hamra, age 92, of Springfield, on Aug. 2, 2024. Hamra graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1959. Hamra started his legal career at Miller, Fairman & Sanford Law Firm in Springfield. He later started a private practice. Hamra also was the city attorney for Nixa and a governmental relations lawyer for Branson and St. Robert. He helped form the Legal Services of Southern Missouri in Springfield and founded Hamra Enterprises. He served in the U.S. Army. 

Donna Lyn Head, age 69, of Eureka, on Jan. 24, 2025. Head graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1980. She was a prosecuting attorney in juvenile court. 

Carl H. Hendrickson, age 88, of St. Louis, on April 19, 2025. Hendrickson graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1965. He was a lawyer for Union Electric Company for nearly three decades and served four terms in the Missouri House of Representatives. Hendrickson served in the U.S. Army. 

Hon. Patrick J. Hitpas, age 77, of Breese, Illinois, on May 19, 2025. Hitpas graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1972. He was a state attorney and founded a general law practice. Hitpas later served as a circuit court judge for the 4th Judicial Circuit of Illinois before becoming a private mediator. 

Ralph Eugene Kennedy, age 103, of Manassas, Virginia, on April 4, 2023. Kennedy graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1944. He was the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in St. Louis and Los Angeles, and was a member of the board in Washington D.C. He later worked in private practice. 

Deborah Eileen Kimrey-Hodges, age 61, of Bentonville, Arkansas, on March 10, 2025. Kimrey-Hodges was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1991 and worked with Walmart. 

Hon. Carroll Glenn Leffler, age 75, of Overland Park, Kansas, on Feb. 10, 2025. Leffler graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1974. Leffler was a founding partner at Breon & Leffler Law Firm in Warrensburg, where he practiced for more than 40 years. He also served as Johnson County prosecuting attorney and a municipal judge. 

Arthur S. Margulis Sr., age 91, of St. Louis, on May 23, 2025. Margulis graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1958. Margulis worked as an FBI special agent. He then was a criminal defense attorney, practicing law for more than 50 years. Margulis served in the U.S. Army. 

Thomas O. McCarthy, age 77, of St. Louis, on May 2, 2025. McCarthy graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1973. McCarthy joined McMahon Berger in 1974 and later was managing partner for 25 years. McCarthy served in the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force Reserves.

John Marx Miller, age 84, of Denver, Colorado, on July 5, 2021. Miller graduated from the West Virginia College of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1973. He was a lawyer at the Marathon Oil Company and served in the U.S. Army. 

Sondra B. Morgan, age 85, of Columbia, on April 13, 2025. Morgan graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1988. She was partner at Brydon, Swearengen and England in Jefferson City, where she practiced primarily in public utilities and appellate law. 

James J. Murphy, age 92, of Bethesda, Maryland, on Feb. 16, 2025. Murphy graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1958. Murphy worked as a prosecutor for Thomas Eagleton, who became Missouri attorney general. Murphy then served as a trial attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department and later became Eagleton’s legislative assistant and speechwriter during his time as U.S. senator. He went into private practice with White Fine and Verville, then Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, LLP as a partner. 

Kevin William Muxlow, age 48, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on May 5, 2025. Muxlow graduated from the Washburn School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 2003. He practiced law in the Kansas City area for about 20 years before returning to New Mexico. He worked as a lawyer for the New Mexico Children’s Youth and Family Division. 

Marvin J. Nodiff, age 79, of St. Louis, on April 18, 2025. Nodiff was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1983. He practiced community association law. 

Bernard V. O’Neill Jr., age 87, of Overland Park, Kansas, on March 19, 2025. O’Neill graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1976. He previously taught mathematics at New York University and Duke University. He worked as a lawyer at Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City. 

Michael Alan Pener, age 85, of Kansas City, on April 26, 2025. Pener graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1964. Pener worked in private practice and started the paralegal program at Johnson County Community College. His career at JCCC spanned 50 years. Pener served in the U.S. military. 

Robert J. Reinhold, age 81, of Des Peres, on Sept. 5, 2024. Reinhold graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1968. Reinhold practiced in Missouri, Kansas, and federal courts for 56 years. He was a union lawyer in early practice and an anti-U.S. draft counselor during the Vietnam War. 

Hon. Jerry Rellihan, age 64, of Osceola, on June 29, 2024. Rellihan graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1984. Rellihan was a prosecutor in Kansas City before establishing a private practice. He was elected as an associate circuit judge for St. Clair County. 

Anthony Russomanno, age 46, of Madison, Wisconsin, on March 16, 2025. Russomanno graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 2008. He was an assistant attorney general for the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Hon. Richard Dalton Schreiber, age 89, of Chesterfield, on May 19, 2025. Schreiber graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1959. He worked in private practice in the St. Louis metro area for 58 years. He served as a municipal judge in Clayton and Warson Woods, taught business law at Fontbonne College, and taught law classes for the International Right of Way Association for 35 years. 

Hon. Kenneth Wayne Shrum, age 86, of Marble Hill, on Sept. 20, 2024. Shrum was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1963 and was elected Bollinger County prosecuting attorney. He also served as city attorney for Fredericktown and was elected to the Missouri Court of Appeals-Southern District. 

Howard L. Snowden, age 96, of Quincy, Illinois, on June 29, 2024. He graduated from the University of Illinois School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1977. Snowden first practiced at Schmiedeskamp and Deege. He then formed the firm Keefe and Snowden, which became Keefe, Snowden, Gorman & Brennan law firm. He formed Snowden & Snowden with his son and was the city attorney for La Grange. Snowden served in the U.S. Navy. 

Perry Mark Toll, age 79, of Overland Park, Kansas, on March 21, 2025. Toll graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1970. He practiced law in Kansas City as a member of Shughart, Thomson, and Kilroy Law Firm for more than 38 years, serving as president for 10 years. 

Ryan Wills, age 39, of Cedar Hill, on Oct. 24, 2023. Wills graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 2010. He was a lawyer in the St. Louis area.