Volume
13, Issue 3
Spring
2002
Senior
Lawyer News
Short
Notes
Alan J. Hofheimer
Mr. Hofheimer was a complete lawyer.
His abilities were as abundant as his love for the profession and those who practiced
it. He could quote just the right passage from Shakespeare to make his point in
tight negotiations, try a complicated appeal of an international group of architects
before the Supreme Court in Washington, win an annual competition for the finest
camellias in the countryand name the winning pitcher in the 1940 World Series
if anyone happened to ask.
Throughout the state he was respected by the trial bar and also those in business
practice. He worked long and hard in support of bar and civic activities and held
many posts and offices over the years. However, more significant perhaps to those
in our firm was his role as a teacher and confidant to the young associates. Each
of us at one time or another bore the burden of a faux pas and found a
smudge of egg on our faces. We could be sure that Mr. Hofheimer would adopt the
position putting his lawyer in the best light—relief was instant. Life really
would go on. His own work was precise and well-prepared. When an associate failed
to toe the same mark and found himself questioned by Mr. Hofheimer, the associate
could count on a free lunch that day where only baseball would be discussed.
Mr. Hofheimer was capable of indignation
when a deserving cause arose. He was one of the most vocal critics of the public
school closings in the early sixties, and worked tirelessly in the important
political campaigns of the time‹including the unsuccessful run of Francis
Pickens Miller and the winning effort of William B. Spong, Jr.
In lighter moments Mr. Hofheimer
displayed a hearty sense of humor. At an annual meeting of the Norfolk-Portsmouth
Bar Association when he received recognition for over 60 years of service, Mr.
Hofheimer noted that he had not been concerned about aging until a month or
so earlier when he was informed that his lifetime appointment as Consul for
Iceland had expired.
Thomas F. McPhaul
Hofheimer Nusbaum, P.C
Norfolk, Virginia
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