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- [[Obituary - The World News Network
Mon, 27 Sep 2004
Memorial service held for former Goodwin Procter partner
Boston Business Journal
A memorial service was held in Hamilton Saturday for Samuel Hoar, formerly a partner with Goodwin Procter & Hoar LLP. Hoar died Sept. 13 at the age of 76 from complications from a heart ailment.
Hoar became senior partner at Goodwin Procter & Hoar in 1958, four years after graduating from Harvard Law School. Since leaving the firm in 1994, Hoar has been a mediator and arbitrator for JAMS, a dispute resolution organization.
Hoar received his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University.
Goodwin Procter was founded in 1914, adding the Hoar name to the masthead in 1917 when Hoar's father, D. Samuel Hoar, joined the firm. The firm dropped Hoar from its name in 2000 and today is known as Goodwin Procter LLP, with 500 lawyers.
Hoar came from a distinguished family. Leonard Hoar was president of Harvard University from 1672 to 1675, and ancestor Robert Sherman signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Elizabeth Sherman Hoar was part of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Transcendental circle. The family has produced two U.S. representatives.
New York Times Company Sep 18, 2004
Samuel Hoar of Essex, a lawyer who developed a nationwide reputation as a skilled mediator and a crusader for the environment, died Monday at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vt., after a brief illness. He was 76.
"I consider Sam really the most lovable of the giants of the Boston trial bar," said Massachusetts Superior Court Justice Allan van Gestel, who practiced with Mr. Hoar for 35 years at the firm Goodwin, Procter & Hoar in Boston. "He was just a smart and marvelous guy with an infectious personality. He was the best partner I ever had."
Born in Boston, Mr. Hoar was raised and educated in Concord and North Andover.
He graduated from Harvard College in 1951 and Harvard Law School in 1954. That same year, he joined the firm of Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, founded by his father, working as a hiring partner and mentor for generations of lawyers.
"He was my first real professional legal mentor," said Scott Harshbarger, the former Massachusetts attorney general. "Back then, people had these standards of Boston law firms that they were supposed to be stiff and Brahmin-like. Sam was the antithesis of that. He smoked a pipe all the time, had a great sense of humor, and showed you can be a real individual and also be an attorney."
Mr. Hoar founded and led one of the nation's first environmental law groups at Goodwin, Procter, & Hoar, fighting to save New Hampshire's Franconia Notch and the Old Man of the Mountain from highway extension plans. He headed the successful legal battle to clean up Boston Harbor.
"He was a major force on the board of directors of the Conservation Law Foundation for years," said Douglas Foy, secretary of the Office of Commonwealth Development. "He had a special passion for environmental issues and viewed the law as an elegant craft and a powerful tool to bring about change, especially in the environment."
Mr. Hoar left the firm briefly to work as an assistant US attorney, prosecuting tax cases. After a couple years, he returned to the firm, while working as a special assistant to Edward Brooke III, then the state attorney general.
At the age of 67, Mr. Hoar launched a new career in the field of alternative dispute resolution. He was a principal and mediator at Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, a member of the American Arbitration Panel of Arbitrators for complex commercial disputes, and a member of the Panel of Neutrals for the Center for Public Resources.
"He spent most of his life as a gunslinger and decided to become a peacemaker," said his son Samuel Jr., of South Burlington, Vt. "He was a trial lawyer that became convinced towards the end of his career that there was a better way to resolve things."
After moving to Essex from Wenham in 1965, he began serving the town in numerous capacities: as a selectman, as well as a member of the Finance Committee, the Zoning Board, and the Conservation Commission. For many years he also served as town moderator.
He was a founding trustee of Brookwood School in Manchester and a member of the vestry at Christ Church in Hamilton. At various times, he was a board member of the Essex County Greenbelt Association, the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society, the United States Equestrian Team, the Handel & Haydn Society, the Boys' Club of Boston, and the Conservation Law Foundation. An avid outdoorsmen, Mr. Hoar enjoyed hiking, fishing, skiing, and horseback riding.
Last year he was recognized by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law for establishing a partnership with the group 35 years ago.
He also was an innovator in integrating law and technology, introducing personal computers to his colleagues long before it was popular.
Mr. Hoar was to have been honored on Tuesday by the Massachusetts Bar Association for 50 years of service.
In addition to his son, Mr. Hoar leaves his wife of 53 years, Martha of Essex; another son, Andrew W. of Wellesley; a daughter, Rebecca Olsen of Gloucester; and seven grandchildren.
A memorial service celebrating his life will be held on Sept. 25 at 10 a.m. at Christ Church in Hamilton.
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The H600 Project Genealogy DB
1927 - 2004 (76 years)