In memoriam: March-April 2026

How to submit an obituary

To submit an obituary, please complete the form at MoBar.org/in-memoriam. We will not print a notice unless a copy of the death certificate or obituary is submitted.

Hon. David Arand, age 69, of Union, on Sept. 20, 2024. Arand graduated from the Washburn University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1980. Arand joined the law firm of Briegel & Baylard in Union. His practice focused on estate planning and family law. He was a lawyer in the juvenile court system and a municipal judge for Union and St. Clair. 

Hollye Stolz Atwood, age 79, of St. Louis, on July 17, 2025. Atwood graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1973. She was the first female partner at Bryan Cave, where she spent her legal career of more than 50 years. Atwood served on the board of the St. Louis Bar Foundation. 

Alan J. Baker, age 83, of St. Louis, on Dec. 21, 2025. Baker graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1971. He practiced law for 55 years. Baker served in the U.S. military. 

Hon. Charles “Charlie” Wayne Baker, age 83, of Little Rock, Arkansas, on Dec. 21, 2023. Baker graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1965. Baker joined a private law firm in Kansas City. He moved to Little Rock, where he was a federal bankruptcy judge and joined the Rose Law Firm. Baker also worked on several political campaigns. 

Richard Beaver Sr., age 79, of Jefferson City, on Aug. 7, 2024. Beaver was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1987. He was a lawyer for more than 37 years. 

Angela M. Bennett, age 73, of Kansas City, on Dec. 2, 2025. Bennett graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1977. She was a lawyer for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the law firm Lathrop & Gage. She was a regional director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. She was a member of The Missouri Bar Board of Governors, a delegate to the American Bar Association, and chair of the ABA’s Professionalism Committee. 

Christopher Michael Blanton, age 78, of St. Louis, on Jan. 9, 2026. Blanton graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1975. He was a senior partner at The Stolar Partnership LLP, where he worked for the entirety of his legal career. Blanton served in the U.S. Army. 

James Virgil Bliss, age 94, of Ballwin, on Feb. 17, 2025. Bliss graduated from the Southern Methodist University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1965. 

Richard Brownlee, age 79, of Jefferson City, on Dec. 30, 2025. Brownlee graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1972. He represented major industries before the Missouri General Assembly for more than 40 years and advised large companies on state contracting, procurement, and technologyrelated initiatives. 

David Roger Cerchie, age 79, of Vero Beach, Florida, on Sept. 8, 2025. Cerchie graduated from the University of Tulsa College of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1994. He began practicing in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and later co-founded VersaFlex. 

Charles Edward Clark, age 85, of Lenexa, Kansas, on Dec. 20, 2025. Clark graduated from the University of Michigan School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1965. He joined the law firm of Dietrich, Tyler, Davis, Burrell and Dicus. He joined List and Clark Construction Company as of counsel and later as president. Clark served in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps. 

Thomas Clough, age 88, of Grover Beach, California, on May 21, 2025. Clough was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1966. 

Joan Z. Cohen, age 83, of St. Louis, on Feb. 24, 2025. Cohen graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1983. She joined Armstrong Teasdale, where she became partner and specialized in human relations and employment law. 

Hal Coleman, age 100, of Osage Beach, on April 27, 2025. Coleman graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1949. He practiced law for 43 years. Coleman served in the U.S. Navy. 

Susan Tarkow Cooper, age 74, of St. Louis, on July 13, 2023. Cooper was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1978. 

Jack Craft, age 87, of Kansas City, on Dec. 2, 2025. Craft graduated from Northwestern University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1965. He practiced with Lathrop, Righter, Gordon, and Parker in Kansas City and later founded Craft, Fridkin & Rhyne. Craft also assisted with several political campaigns. 

Paul A. Craig, age 73, of St. Ann, on Nov. 23, 2025. He was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1988. 

Heywood Hodder Davis, age 93, of Prairie Village, Kansas, on Dec. 7, 2024. He graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1958. Davis was an associate, then partner with the law firm Dietrich, Tyler, Davis, Burrell & Dicus. He and his colleagues formed Davis, Sands & Collins P.C. firm, and he was a founding trustee of what is now Legal Aid of Western Missouri. Davis served in the U.S. Navy. 

Francis X. Duda, age 83, of St. Louis, on Jan. 24, 2026. Duda graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1967. He worked at Bryan, Cave, McPheeters & McRoberts, then Keefe, Schlafly, Griesedieck & Ferrell, where he became partner. He joined Armstrong, Teasdale, Kramer, Vaughan & Schlafly as partner until he joined Anderson & Gilbert. He received The Missouri Bar Foundation Spurgeon Smithson Award. Duda served in the U.S. Army and was a captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. 

Hon. Theodore “Ted” Stephen Elo, age 65, of St. Joseph, on March 30, 2025. Elo graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1987. He practiced law in the private sector for nearly 20 years before becoming assistant city attorney for St. Joseph. He was elected municipal judge for St. Joseph in 2022. 

Jay W. Endress, age 65, of Peru, Illinois, on Sept. 13, 2025. Endress graduated from the Marquette University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1985. He practiced law for nine years in Kansas City. He worked at the Cantlin Law Firm in Ottawa, Illinois, and was a legislative aide. He was a co-owner of Saint Bede Abbey Press and of four newspapers. 

David Edgar Everson Jr., age 81, of St. Louis, on Nov. 19, 2025. Everson was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1978. He was a civil rights defender and antitrust litigator. 

Mary Lindeman Fournie, age 71, of St. Louis, on Dec. 2, 2025. Fournie graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1979. She practiced with Bryan, Cave, McPheters & McRoberts. 

Steven N. Frank, age 76, of St. Louis, on Sept. 8, 2024. Frank graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1973. He worked in private practice for 25 years with Peper, Martin, Jensen, Maichel & Hetlage, then Shiffrin & Treimann. He was corporate counsel with Ralston Purina and McDonnell Douglas. He participated in the merger of McDonnell Douglas with Boeing, co-founded ZeaVision, and became partner at Plancorp. 

Norman Fretwell, age 80, of Kansas City, on Feb. 25, 2025. Fretwell graduated from the University of Michigan Law School and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1973. He became partner at law firms in Kansas City, most recently Spencer Fane. Fretwell served in the U.S. military. 

Wayne Daniel Gifford, age 70, of Waynesville, on Sept. 30, 2025. Gifford was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1978 and started his own law practice. He was also elected prosecuting attorney. Gifford served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. 

Jay T. Grodsky, age 78, of Raymore, on Nov. 30, 2025. Grodsky graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1978. He practiced bankruptcy and family law, then worked for the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services. Grodsky served in the U.S. Air Force. 

Lloyd Barry Gubin, age 74, of St. Louis, on Jan. 26, 2026. Gubin graduated from the St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas, and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1982. He was in-house counsel for Deaconess Hospital and was an adjunct professor at Webster University. Gubin started a civil law practice specializing in bankruptcy. Gubin served in the U.S. Army Reserves. 

Paula Kay Harms, age 51, of Kansas City, on Sept. 22, 2025. Harms graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 2000. She worked for more than 20 years as an assistant federal public defender for the Capital Habeas Unit. 

Robert Lewis Hawkins, age 74, of Biloxi, Mississippi, on Nov. 30, 2025. Hawkins graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1979. He practiced law with his father, then at his own firm before serving as the director of historic sites in Biloxi and Redlands, California. He worked for the Social Security Administration in Tennessee until he retired. 

H. Max Hilfiker, age 81, of Malden, on Sept. 8, 2025. Hilfiker graduated from the South Texas College of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1974. He established the Hilfiker Law Firm in Malden, where he worked until he retired. Hilfiker served in the U.S. Army. 

Hon. Robert “Bob” Harlan House, age 76, of Joplin, on June 13, 2025. House graduated from the Duke University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1974. He was appointed a circuit judge of the 44th Judicial Circuit. House was an assistant attorney general, Douglas County prosecuting attorney, Mansfield city attorney, and Ava municipal judge. He was also a chief administrative law judge for the Missouri Division of Workers’ Compensation. 

Tristram Willoughby Hunt, age 59, of Kansas City, Kansas, on June 5, 2024. Hunt graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1999. He worked as an assistant district attorney for the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office. He worked for the U.S. Department of Justice as an assistant U.S. attorney until he retired. 

Craig Jacobs, age 65, of Jefferson City, on Oct. 10, 2025. Jacobs was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1997 and was a lawyer for the State of Missouri. 

Hon. Peter Roman Jarosewycz, age 75, of Kansas City, on Jan. 4, 2024. Jarosewycz graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1976. He was an administrative law judge for the Missouri Department of Employment. 

Ken Johnson, age 80, of Springfield, on Feb. 14, 2026. Johnson graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1970. He worked at Bussell, Hough & Greene, then Johnson & Sweeney. He practiced with Twibell Johnson for decades. 

Eugene Kastanek, age 80, of Midlothian, Texas, on Aug. 28, 2025. Kastanek was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1976. He was an attorney-at-law at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for 41 years. 

Velma Lucinda Lambert, age 78, of St. Louis, on March 12, 2025. Lambert was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 2003. 

Carl Armand Leibner, age 91, of O’Fallon, on July 19, 2025. Leibner was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1969. He worked with the Farm Credit Bureau and later the State of Missouri. Leibner served in the U.S. military. 

Lauren Leigh Butler Mann, age 41, of Kansas City, on Aug. 19, 2025. Butler Mann graduated from the Oklahoma City University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 2011. She worked with Martin, Leigh, Laws, and Fritzlen, P.C. and Millsap and Singer, LLC. She then worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.

Betty Masters, age 84, of Jefferson City, on April 23, 2025. Masters graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1991. She worked for the State of Missouri for 35 years, including in the Missouri Personnel Division, the Department of Welfare, the Division of Employment Security, the Missouri House of Representatives, and Gov. Joseph Teasdale’s office. She was also a lawyer and chief bill drafter for the Joint Committee on Legislative Research. 

James McHugh, age 92, of St. Charles, on Nov. 26, 2024. McHugh graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1966. He was president of the International Division at Pet, Inc. McHugh served in the U.S. Air Force. 

Hon. Roger W. McLean, age 70, of Kansas City, Kansas, on March 22, 2025. McLean graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1991. He worked at Barnett & Lerner, then formed McLean & McLean with his brother. He was appointed judge of the Wyandotte County District Court and later returned to private practice.

James Scott Merritt Jr., age 85, Manhattan, Kansas, on Feb. 26, 2025. Merritt graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1964. He joined the Kansas City law firm of Stinson Mag and practiced there for two decades. He later opened his own private practice. 

Donald Rae Moore, age 75, of Blue Springs, on Nov. 11, 2025. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1987. He was partner at Cochran Oswald before leaving the firm. He then represented clients and businesses in Blue Springs and eastern Jackson County for more than 40 years. Moore served in the U.S. Navy. He joined the U.S. Army Reserve JAG Detachment in Independence and retired after more than 20 years of service. 

Janet Elise Oliver, age 75, of Overland Park, Kansas, on Oct. 18, 2025. Oliver graduated from the University of Missouri- Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1997. She practiced law in the Kansas City area. 

Sam Scott Phillips, age 70, of Columbia, on Dec. 16, 2025. Phillips graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1983. He was executive trust officer and vice president of Exchange Bank in Jefferson City, chief assistant prosecuting attorney for Greene County, and deputy chief disciplinary counsel for the Supreme Court of Missouri. He was also chair of The Missouri Bar Law Practice Management Committee and served on the board of directors for the National Organization of Bar Counsel. 

Tommy Daniels Pisciotta, age 31, of Clayton, on Jan. 5, 2026. He graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 2022. 

Michael J. Plambeck, age 60, of Bellevue, Nebraska, on July 19, 2025. Plambeck graduated from Creighton University Law School and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1990. Plambeck practiced in Kansas City, then opened Binning & Plambeck in Bellevue. 

Andrew Bentley Protzman, age 54, of Leawood, Kansas, on Aug. 12, 2025. Protzman graduated from the University of Missouri- Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1996. He started practicing at Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice, then started his own practice, Protzman Law Firm. 

Clyde James Rayburn Jr., age 92, of Lee’s Summit, on Oct. 1, 2024. Rayburn graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1954. He evaluated policies at Dodson Insurance for 20 years. 

John Emerson Russell, age 83, of St. Louis, on March 20, 2025. Russell graduated from the Vanderbilt University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1969. He worked in the trust department at a bank in Nashville, Tennessee. He was a lawyer for the IRS in Washington D.C., then started his own practice in St. Louis. Russell served in the U.S. Marine Corps. 

Clyde Holcomb Sellers, age 78, of Freeport, Florida, on May 6, 2024. Sellers graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1973. He worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineering as a lawyer and chief of real estate for 33 years. 

George F. Smith, age 79, of St. Louis, on March 24, 2025. Smith graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1971. Smith worked for St. Louis County, was a partner at Lashly & Baer, and spent 26 years at UniGroup. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves. 

Sandy Smith, age 74, of Kansas City, on Aug. 31, 2025. Smith graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1989. She practiced at various hospitals and law firms in the Kansas City area. 

Michael A. “Terk” Suire, age 67, of Fenton, on Sept. 22, 2025. He was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1992. Suire served in the U.S. Coast Guard. 

John Francis Sutherland IV, age 80, of St. Louis, on Dec. 24, 2024. Sutherland graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1969. He spent most of his career working in the banking industry. He served in the U.S. Army. 

William Earl “Bill” Taylor, age 87, of St. Louis, on Nov. 10, 2025. Taylor graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1963. He practiced tax law for 41 years at Monsanto, Ralston Purina, and Ralcorp. 

John Mark Thomas, age 73, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Dec. 4, 2025. Thomas graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 2011. Thomas was an in-house attorney with Ford Motor Company before joining Bryan Cave law firm and later Dykema Gossett. 

Michael Towerman, age 66, of Glencoe, on Sept. 5, 2024. Towerman was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1983. 

Hon. Gerald “Jerry” Arthur Wacknov, age 86, of Foster City, California, on Oct. 10, 2025. Wacknov graduated from Columbia Law School and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1964. He worked as a lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board until he was appointed as an administrative law judge and moved to the San Francisco Bay area. Wacknov retired after a 50-year career with the NLRB. 

Richard “Rick” Clark Wallace, age 78, of Lenexa, Kansas, on June 26, 2025. Wallace graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1990. He worked at Wyandotte County Legal Aid and later helped found Kansas Legal Services in Topeka. He then joined the Evans & Mullinix Law Firm. 

William C. Wefel, age 80, of St. Louis, on March 20, 2025. Wefel graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1968. Wefel practiced as a lawyer until he bought a motorcycle business, Bob Schultz Motors. 

Hon. William J. Wegge Jr., age 83, of Festus, on Dec. 23, 2025. Wegge graduated from Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1980. He practiced law in De Soto and Hillsboro and served as a municipal judge in De Soto. He was elected associate circuit judge in 1991. After retiring, he continued to practice law on a part-time basis. 

Michael Yates, age 79, of Joplin, on Nov. 19, 2024. Yates graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1980. He was a professor of paralegal studies and political science at Missouri Southern State University. He later served as an adjunct professor at MSSU and Crowder College. He was a regional reporter with the Education Law Association.