
13 minute read
In Memoriam 2022
Lawrence Alan Beck
Lawrence Alan Beck died in March at the age of 71. Beck was a lifelong resident of San Antonio and a graduate of Alamo Heights High School. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and his law degree from The University of Texas. He practiced law with his father, Marvin Beck, in the law firm of Beck and Beck PC in San Antonio, with an emphasis on commercial litigation. Beck was board certified in both business and consumer bankruptcy law.
Judge Solomon Casseb III
Judge Solomon John Casseb, III died in December at the age of 74. Casseb was a graduate of Lee High School. He received his undergraduate degree from St. Mary’s University and his law degree from The University of Texas. He practiced law with Jim Pearl for many years. Governor Rick Perry appointed Casseb to the 288th Judicial District Court in 2008, and he served for more than ten years. Following his service as a district court judge, he continued to serve as a visiting judge, arbitrator, and mediator.

Judge Solomon Casseb III
- Joe Casseb and Judge Renée Yanta, on behalf of the Casseb Family
Allan DuBois
Allan K. Dubois died in January at the age of 76. The product of a military family that ultimately settled in San Antonio, Dubois attended Central Catholic High School and was Cadet Lieutenant Colonel of one of its two ROTC brigades. He attended The University of Texas on an ROTC scholarship. In one very busy year, 1967, Dubois graduated from college, entered law school, and married. He received his law degree from The University of Texas in 1970. Following a stint on the East Coast, Dubois and his family returned to San Antonio. He was a civil trial attorney with the firm of Lang, Ladon, Green, Coghlan & Fisher for twentyfive years. Dubois served the legal community in many capacities, including as President of SABA and of the State Bar of Texas.

Allan K. Dubois
- Sara Dysart
Warner Frederick Fassnidge
Warner Frederick Fassnidge died in October at the age of 85. The San Antonio native was reared in the Woodlawn Lake area of San Antonio and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School. He received his undergraduate degree from Trinity University and his law degree from The University of Texas. He served as a real estate attorney for the City of San Antonio and taught Business and Real Property Law at UTSA.
Kermit W. Fox Jr.
Kermit W. Fox Jr. died in December at the age of 80. The Austin native received his law degree from The University of Texas in 1970. He was in private practice in San Antonio for thirty years.
Judge Alvaro T. Garza
Judge Alvaro T. Garza died in July at the age of 81. The Laredo native received his undergraduate degree from The University of Texas and his law degree from St. Mary’s University. He was among the first attorneys with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and later served as a District Director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Subsequently, Garza had a private law practice in Laredo prior to his appointment in 1994 by President Clinton as a Federal Administrative Law Judge.
Michael Ray Hedges
Michael Ray Hedges died in October at the age of 68. Hedges grew up on a cotton farm between Springlake and Olton, Texas. He graduated with honors from Texas A&M University (1976) and received his law degree from Baylor University School of Law (1979). He was a longtime civil litigator with the firm of Goode, Casseb, Jones, Riklin, Choate & Watson and a member of the American Board of Trial Attorneys.
A. L. Hernden
A. L. Hernden died in March at the age of 83. Born in San Antonio, A.L. attended Central Catholic High School, St. Mary’s University, and St. Mary’s University Law School. He was a fearless, tireless, and imaginative lawyer with a sense of humor. The local bar is populated by many who went to law school under his tutelage.
Frank Young Hill, Jr.
Frank Young Hill, Jr. died in April at the age of 90. The Laredo native was a thirdgeneration Texas attorney. He was the grandson of Lucius David Hill, whom President Woodrow Wilson had appointed as International Boundary Commissioner in 1917 to oversee the U.S./ Mexico border. Hill received his undergraduate degree from the University of the South in Sewanee (1953) and his law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law (1959). Hill served in the United States Air Force as an Intelligence Officer during the Korean War. Following law school, he served as an Assistant Criminal Defense Attorney in Bexar County and later as briefing attorney for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Hill practiced law for nearly fifty years in the San Antonio/Hill Country area.
Roger D. Jones
Roger D. Jones died in March. The Ohio native received his law degree from the University of Toledo in 1976. After law school, he joined the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Hood. Upon separation from the Army, he entered the private practice of law in San Antonio.
Royal W. King, Jr.
Royal W. King, Jr. died in February at the age of 97. He was a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School and The University of Texas. He received his law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law. King served in the Pacific Theatre during the Second World War. As an attorney he worked in the oil and gas and banking industries.
Douglas Wayne Sanders
Douglas Wayne Sanders died in December at the age of 66. Sanders was born in Baytown. Sanders was an honors graduate of both The University of Texas (1978) and Bates Law School at the University of Houston (1981). In the early 1990’s Sanders became a commercial litigator with the San Antonio law firm Oppenheimer, Blend, Harrison & Tate. He retired from the firm in 2005. In more recent years, Sanders was in private practice in Horseshoe Bay and embarked upon a political career which included service as Chairman of the Llano County Republican Party.
Leonard Wayne Scott

Leonard Wayne Scott
Leonard Wayne Scott died in September at the age of 83. Scott was raised in Lockhart. He attended Southwest State Teachers College, earning both undergraduate and graduate degrees in American Studies. He received his law degree from The University of Texas. He entered the practice of law in 1965 with the Sheehy and Lovelace firm in Waco, while also teaching as an associate professor at Baylor University School of Law. In 1971, Scott accepted a position as a full professor with St Mary’s University School of Law and in 2021 received the fifty-year pin for his service. Board certified in civil appellate law, Scott was the Editor of the Texas Lawyer’s Weekly Digest and its successor the Texas Lawyer’s Civil Digest, for more than thirty years. He was a driving force in the creation of the External Advocacy Program at St. Mary’s University.
- Dan Naranjo
Robert Carlyle Scott
Robert Carlyle Scott died in August at the age of 76. He received his law degree from The University of Texas in 1973. Scott devoted much of his time to nonprofit organizations and his church. He led the building committee that planned the move of Alamo Heights United Methodist Church from its old location on Broadway to its current home on Basse Road.
North Ottis West
North O. West died in January at the age of 81. West was born in San Antonio on Veterans’ Day. He was a 1959 graduate of Harlandale High School. He was a member of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University, from which he graduated in 1963. He received his law degree from St. Mary’s University in 1966. He served in the United States Army from 1966 to 1968 as a Military Intelligence Officer during the Vietnam conflict. Following military service, he joined his father’s law practice, West & West, Attorneys, where he remained until his death.

North Ottis West
- Jennifer West, Daughter Dean Greer, Friend
John F. Younger, Jr.
John F. Younger, Jr. died in August at the age of 82. Younger was raised in Midland and graduated from Midland High School. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University in 1963 and his law degree from The University of Texas in 1966. He served with the United States Marine Corps from 1967-1969. Younger was Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law, a Life Fellow of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
Robert E. Zepeda
Robert E. Zepeda died in March at the age of 72. The San Antonio native graduated from Fox Tech High School in 1968. He attended St. Philips College and was its first Latino Student Body President. At St. Philips, Zepeda enrolled in a class taught by Frank Madla, a longtime Democratic member of both the Texas House and the Texas Senate. With encouragement from Madla and others, Zepeda attended The University of Texas, from which he graduated in 1973 and St. Mary’s University School of Law, from which he graduated in 1976. Zepeda’s legal career spanned forty-six years.