Search all obituaries on iBerkshires.com:
 Arthur Theise Wasserman
June 26, 2005
Arthur Theise Wasserman, 93, formerly of Main Street, an attorney and a philanthropist, died yesterday at Sweet Brook Care Centers, where he had resided for several years.
He was formerly of Boston, Plymouth and Palm Beach, Fla.
Born in Dorchester on July 22, 1911, son of Jacob and Harriet Theise Wasserman, he graduated from Dorchester High School for Boys and Colby College, where he was a member of the debate, hockey and track teams, treasurer of Pi Kappa Delta and secretary of Tau Delta Phi.
He graduated from Boston University Law School in 1934.
An officer in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, he served from 1943 to 1945 in China-Burma-India operations.
He practiced law with his father, taking over after his father's death. With his partner, Leonard Salter, he built the practice into one of Boston's largest commercial law firms. After retiring in 1968, he continued for another 15 years as corporate counsel to Hyde Athletic Shoes Industries.
In 1939, in the first case of its kind before the Massachusetts courts, he defended the rights of a German refugee and concentration camp survivor, Siegfried Weil, who had been forced to sign over his inheritance from his uncle, a Boston banker, to the Nazis, who were making demands for the money from Boston's Old Colony Trust.
Mr. Wasserman argued that because Mr. Weil had signed away his inheritance under the threat of immediate death, the agreement was not binding. The court agreed and issued a permanent injunction against the transfer of funds, thus preserving the inheritance and keeping it out of the hands of the Nazi government. He never met his client and took no fee for the work.
He was elected commander of the Newton post of Jewish War Veterans in 1948 and was a grand master of the Newton Lodge of Elks and president of the Commercial Law League of America. He was a founding member of the Banyan Golf Club in Palm Beach.
He and his wife, the former Etta Wunsch, were married in 1935. Together they endowed a scholarship at Boston University Law School and an arts and entertainment fund at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged in Boston.
Besides his wife, he leaves a son, Theodore Wasserman of Brookline; a daughter, Janet Wohlberg of Williamstown; two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
FUNERAL NOTICE -- Graveside services for Arthur Theise Wasserman, who died Sunday, June 26, 2005, will be private. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of GEORGE M. HOPKINS FUNERAL HOME, 61-67 Spring St., Williamstown.
Survivors include a daughter-in-law, Toni Greatrex of Brookline and a son-in-law, Morris Raker of Williamstown. He was predeceased by four younger siblings.
| No Comments have been left |
|
