Page 20 - Briefcase V35 Number 1

IN MEMORIAM
NEW F A CES

JAMES E. HERGET P. Kommers of the University of Notre Dame wrote: "Herget has
Sept. 20, 1934 – April 27, 2016 scoured the literature of German legal thought, organized that thought
University of Houston Law Center Professor Emeritus James into interesting and intelligible categories, and presented each school of
E. Herget, who taught at the law school for 25 years and thought in an imaginative way. . . . [It] is a body of knowledge fascinating
served as associate dean, died April 27, 2016 in Kerrville at the for its content, illuminating for its insight, and relevant to American
age of 81. legal philosophy as well as comparative law."
Herget joined the faculty in 1973, teaching courses in Constitutional He retired from the Law Center in 1998 and moved to Kerrville
Law and International Comparative Law. He also served as director where he was an active member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. He
of the International Law Institute, director of the Mexican Legal continued writing, venturing outside the legal realm with titles such as,
Studies Program, and long-time chairman of the promotion and tenure “American Football: How the Game Evolved” and “Women in Magic:
committee. The Pioneers.”
In 1983-84 he was a visiting professor of law at Hokkaido University in Herget was born in Pekin, Ill., on Sept. 20, 1934. He earned his
Sapporo, Japan, and in 1993-94 he was senior researcher at Heidelberg undergraduate and J.D. degrees from the University of Illinois and an
University in Heidelberg, Germany. Both visits were sponsored by the S.J.D. degree from the University of Virginia.
Fulbright program. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Helen; three daughters, Catherine
Herget was the author of several books and numerous legal articles. In a Carter Willard, Margaret Dawson, and Grace Capwell; and two sons,
review of his book “Contemporary German Legal Philosophy,” Donald William and Charles.

IRA B. SHEPARD
Dec. 14, 1937 – March 27, 2016
Professor Emeritus Ira B. Shepard, who unraveled the in tax institutes all over the country and at the Wednesday Tax Forum
complexities of tax law for thousands of students during his here in Houston looked forward to his presentations, which were laced
36 years in the classroom at the University of Houston Law with good humor as well as scholarship.”
Center, died March 27, 2016 at the age of 78. Associate Professor Bret Wells added, “Ira was instrumental in
Known among colleagues and students for his kindness and good getting the Houston Business and Tax Law Journal started. He had a
humor, Shepard was known nationally for his expertise in the ever- strong interest in facilitating conversations about the tax law among
evolving field of tax law. academics, practitioners, and the judiciary.
“Ira retired before I became dean in 2014, but I had gotten to know him “He also was instrumental in forging the University of Houston Law
and found him to be all that one could hope for in a law professor,” said Center’s IRS Externship Program. That program allows our students to
Dean Leonard M. Baynes. “He was well credentialed, well published, gain valuable experience working with the IRS District Counsel. UHLC
and a leader in his field of study, tax. Ira was an incredible asset to the was one of the first law schools to have such a program, and Ira’s vision
Law Center even after his retirement. He continued to participate in helped create that program in the early 1990s.
conferences and promote the Law Center at every opportunity. He will “He also spoke monthly in Houston for over 30 years on federal income
be missed by all.” tax updates and maintained a rigorous speaking schedule that touched
“Ira and I were friends for many years, having begun at the Law the lives of everyone in the tax community on a national scale. His
Center a few years apart,” said Raymond T. Nimmer, the Leonard public speaking endeared him to the tax profession and made him one
Childs Professor of Law and former dean. “He was one of the group of the most beloved and respected tax law professors of this generation.”
that brought us up from one place to where we are now, but more Shepard, a primary force in establishing the school’s LL.M. Taxation
important, he was a friend.” Program, retired from teaching in 2011, but continued as a senior
“With his Harvard credentials and elite practice background, he helped adviser to the program and as an active speaker and participant in tax-
set a good precedent for hiring, and worked hard to build our tax law related organizations and conferences. He was honored in 2013 with
program,” said Professor Emeritus Stephen Zamora, who also served as the Outstanding Texas Tax Lawyer award by the Tax Section Council
dean during Shepard’s tenure. “He was a fount of erudition – a question of the State Bar of Texas. The award is the highest bestowed by the Tax
about a poet, or Shakespeare, or a cultural question, would prompt him Section to honor colleagues for their outstanding reputation, expertise,
to take out his little black book in which he registered all kinds of arcane and professionalism in the practice of tax law in Texas.
information.” Shepard joined the then-UH Bates College of Law in 1975 after
“Ira was a leader in the national tax community and in Houston,” said teaching at the University of Georgia School of Law and as a visiting
Paul Asofsky, an adjunct professor and senior advisor to the LL.M. Tax professor at the University of North Carolina Law School. He received
Program. “He carved out a niche for himself, apprising tax practitioners his baccalaureate degree from Harvard College in 1958 and his law
of current developments in the tax law on a monthly basis. Participants degree in 1964 from Harvard, where he was an editor of the Harvard

18 Briefcase 2017