In memoriam: September-October 2025

Charles R. Abele, age 86, of Littleton, Colorado, on May 2, 2025. Abele graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1965. He worked at the Missouri State Public Defender’s Office in St. Louis, then the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office as first assistant prosecutor. He moved into private practice, working for several firms before establishing his own practice focused on railroad injury law. 

Joan Kathryn Archer, age 64, of Los Angeles, California, on April 17, 2025. Archer graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law and earned a Ph.D. in communication studies and jury behavior. She was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1993. For more than 25 years she practiced law with firms in the Kansas City area, including Stinson, Lathrop & Gage, and Husch Blackwell. She became general counsel at Farmobile, then practiced with Carlton Fields. Archer held several positions within the American Bar Association and in many corporate counsel organizations. 

Norman O. Besheer, age 96, of Kansas City, on Dec. 23, 2024. Besheer graduated from the University of Kansas City School of Law (now the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law) and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1955. He worked as house counsel at Kansas City Life Insurance and North Penn Gas Company, as well as assistant corporate secretary at the Gas Service Company. He later joined his father-in-law at his pest control company. He was a senior counselor of The Missouri Bar and served in the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. 

Timothy Hugh Bosler, age 81, of Mooresville, on June 28, 2025. Bosler graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1973. He practiced law in Liberty and Chillicothe. Bosler served in the U.S. Air Force. 

Mark Elwood Brown, age 72, of Shawnee, Kansas, on May 17, 2025. Brown graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1980. Brown started his own practice in 2002. 

Stephen Phillip Dees, age 82, of Kansas City, on June 22, 2025. Dees graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1967. He started his career at Stinson, Mag & Fizzell and later worked as general counsel at Farmland Industries before opening its first international office in Mexico City, Mexico. He ended his career at Shook Hardy & Bacon. 

Louis C. DeFeo Jr., age 90, of Jefferson City, on May 6, 2025. DeFeo graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1961. DeFeo was first assistant attorney general at the Missouri Attorney General’s Office before being appointed to the Human Rights Commission. He was later general counsel for the Missouri Catholic Conference, where he worked for 31 years. DeFeo received one of The Missouri Bar Foundation’s 2024 Spurgeon Smithson Awards. 

Maurice B. “Marcy” Graham, age 87, of St. Louis, on Sept. 9, 2025. Graham was president of Gray Ritter & Graham P.C. in St. Louis. Prior to that, he practiced law for several years in his hometown of Fredericktown. He was 1988-1989 president of The Missouri Bar. He graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1963. 

Hon. James Price Gray, age 96, of Springfield, on Sept. 23, 2024. Gray graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1953. He established a general law practice and served as a Springfield municipal judge. Gray served in the U.S. Army. 

Hon. Leonard S. Hughes III, age 72, of Kansas City, on June 16, 2025. Hughes graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1976. Hughes served as a Jackson County Circuit Court judge and a Kansas City Municipal Court judge. 

Robert Frederick Hunter, age 86, of Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 17, 2023. Hunter graduated from the S.M.U. School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1976. He worked as the general counsel for Hydro-Air Engineering, Inc. before moving to England to be managing director (CEO) of the company’s operations in Europe. He returned to St. Louis to become the company’s president and later established a law practice in Dallas, Texas. 

Elaine Irene Jones, age 77, of Columbia, on April 7, 2025. She worked as a nurse practitioner before graduating from the University of Missouri School of Law. She was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1992. 

David Michael Kight, age 55, of Olathe, Kansas, on June 18, 2025. Kight graduated from the University of Louisville School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 2001. Kight worked at Management Science Associates in Independence before becoming a shareholder at Shughart Thomson & Kilroy (now Polsinelli). He later joined Spencer Fane Britt & Browne, then Garmin as assistant general counsel and later associate general counsel. 

Richard Scott Magruder, age 73, of Goodyear, Arizona, on July 2, 2025. Magruder graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1978. Magruder began his career working for Legal Aid of Western Missouri, then was a city prosecutor in the Kansas City Municipal Court. He later became an in-house defense attorney for The Hartford Insurance Group, serving as the managing attorney of the Kansas City office. 

Richard S. Marx, age 98, of St. Louis, on May 12, 2025. Marx graduated from the University of Michigan School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1951. Marx established a law practice in Clayton. 

James Edwin McDaniel, age 93, of Clinton, Connecticut, on Aug. 4, 2025. He graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1959. He was a partner at Lashly & Baer and served in the U.S. Air Force. He was 1981-1982 president of The Missouri Bar, president of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, and a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates and Board of Governors. 

William Merrigan, age 90, of McLean, Virginia, on Oct. 26, 2024. Merrigan graduated from the Georgetown University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1961. He was legal counsel for Air America before becoming chief legal counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense. Merrigan served in the U.S. Navy Air Corps.

Gary Paul, age 73, of Clayton, on Feb. 7, 2025. Paul graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1977. Paul began his legal career at Brinker, Doyen & Kovacs and later became a founding member and managing partner at Brinker & Doyen, LLP. 

Hon. Emil L. Poertner, age 105, of Union, on June 12, 2025. Poertner graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1952. Poertner practiced law in St. Louis and Franklin County. He served as Franklin County probate judge, then returned to private practice. Poertner served in the U.S. Army Air Corps. 

Maury Burton Poscover, age 81, of University City, on June 16, 2025. Poscover graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1969. Poscover was managing partner at Husch Eppenberger (now Husch Blackwell). He held numerous leadership positions within the American Bar Association and was president of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. 

Robert Ramshur, age 79, of Piedmont, on June 6, 2025. Ramshur graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1975. He practiced law with Lorch and Ramshur Law Office, and later Ramshur & Goforth. He was the city attorney for Piedmont for over 30 years and was a prosecuting attorney in Wayne County. Ramshur served in the U.S. military. 

Virgil Kenneth Rohrer, age 78, of Farmington, on April 16, 2025. Rohrer graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1972. He practiced law in Farmington for over 40 years and was the St. Francois County public administrator for 30 years. Rohrer served in the U.S. Army National Guard. 

Robert William Schuller, age 64, of Overland Park, Kansas, on July 13, 2025. Schuller graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1987. He moved to Kansas City and started his career at Morrison and Hecker LLP. He worked in-house with Farmland Industries, becoming its vice president and general counsel. He worked in the same role with Van Tuyl Companies, then the American Italian Pasta Company. He co-founded a private equity firm, Auxano Holdings. 

Stephen Paul Seigel, age 77, of Springfield, on June 24, 2024. Seigel was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1971. 

James W. Shaffer, age 98, of Mission Hills, Kansas, on Dec. 5, 2024. Shaffer graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1950. Shaffer was a Missouri special assistant attorney general, an administrative assistant to a U.S. congressman, and an assistant Jackson County counselor. He maintained a practice for 58 years and served in the U.S. Navy. 

Linda Shapiro, age 74, of St. Louis, on July 24, 2025. Shapiro graduated from the Washington University School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1984. She practiced for 31 years at Thomson Coburn LLP, where she made partner. 

Barry A. Short, age 84, of St. Louis, on April 25, 2025. Short was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1965. Short was a U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri and senior counsel at Lewis Rice. He also was an adjunct professor at Washington University School of Law. 

Eva Sterner, age 70, of Fulton, on Dec. 15, 2024. Sterner graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1986. She was an assistant general counsel in the Missouri Department of Revenue. She also practiced criminal law in the Boone County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, workers’ compensation in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, and child support law in the Audrain County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. 

Stuart Symington Jr., age 100, of Washington D.C., on July 16, 2025. Symington graduated from Harvard Law School and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1957. He practiced for over 50 years in New York and St. Louis. Symington served in the U.S. Army. 

Errol Doak Taylor, age 84, of Naples, Florida, on July 5, 2025. Taylor graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1966. He was first assistant general counsel for the Missouri Public Service Commission, then worked at Brown, Douglas & Brown in St. Joseph. 

Paul Wickens, age 78, of Kansas City, on Jan. 31, 2025. Wickens graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1971. Wickens was a lawyer and then shareholder at Jackson and Sherman before becoming partner at Morrison & Hecker. He then started his own law firm, Foland Wickens, with long-time friend Jim Foland. He was active in several legal organizations and was the founder and first president of the Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers. Wickens served in the U.S. Army Reserves. 

Frederick James “Fred” Wilkins, age 86, of Blue Springs, on April 28, 2025. Wilkins graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1963. He worked at Shughart, Thomson & Kilroy before joining Heavner, Jarrett & Kimbell. He established his own firm with Stephen B. Millin Jr. until his retirement. He was president of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys. 

Ronald Ray Wood, age 84, of Belton, on July 15, 2025. Wood graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1968. Wood worked at Black & Veatch before becoming president and CEO of B&V Energy. 

Rebecca Wright, age 51, of St. Louis, on April 27, 2025. Wright graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1998. Wright worked for the State of Missouri and then the city of St. Louis. 

Robert Franklin Wrobel, age 80, of Bradenton, Florida, on July 30, 2025. Wrobel graduated from the University of Illinois School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1970. Wrobel worked at Stinson, Mag and Fizzell, then became general counsel for the Marley Company. He became general counsel and vice president of Duracell Batteries, then was chief legal officer and vice president of Alpharma Pharmaceuticals.