In Honor of Richard F. Gerry

“I first met Dick Gerry when we joined forces in the Mare Island Shipyard litigation. We went forward as partners in the Marshalls Islands, Survivors of Rongerick nuclear radiation, and Toxic Substance Litigation Projects. He became one of the four attorneys on the plaintiff’s Executive Committee to obtain the $5 Billion punitive damages verdict in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill case in 1989.

It was unanimously agreed to among the lawyers and law firms joined in the Marshall Islands Project that Dick should be our international spokesman for the trusting, kindhearted Marshallese people we had the privilege to represent. My role at the DC press conference was pretty much to set up the logistics, to enable the Marshall Islanders from 11,000 miles away to be in attendance and introduce Mr. Gerry. At the press conference he finished personalizing the carnage caused by Bravo, the first hydrogen bomb blast, I noticed some members of the press were crying.

Dick was not just a professional colleague; he was a dear friend of mine. There were times we strategized politely and others when we straight out screamed at each other, but always in service of determining how best to serve the interests of our clients.

He was WWII era, while my time was Viet Nam”