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memorials
This section honors the lives of deceased members of the local Bar. For more information about this service, please contact Leyla Shokoohe at (513) 699-1391 or lshokoohe@cincybar.org.
David E. Schmit
1947 – 2020
David E. Schmit passed away unex- pectedly October 4, 2020. Dave was a long-time mainstay of the intellectual property litigation practice for Frost & Jacobs, and then Frost Brown Todd.
Frank Hale Stewart
1931 – 2020
Frank Hale Stewart died August 16, 2020 at the age of 89. He was a loving husband to the late Cynthia Ellis Stewart, and father of two sons, Allen Ellis Stewart and Frank Hale Stewart, Jr., and the grandfather of three.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, Frank served in the U.S. Army for two years before following in his father’s footsteps at the University of Virginia Law School. After a stint working for the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., Frank came to Cincinnati in 1958 and was hired by the law firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister, where he practiced labor law for 40 years. He was a protégé of J. Mack Swigert, the principal author of the Taft Hartley Act at the direction of Senator Robert A. Taft. He was a co-host on a regular radio news show fielding questions on employment and labor law. Frank navigated labor law as it evolved over the decades and became a lawyer’s lawyer in the labor and employment law practice across the entire country. He chaired Taft’s Labor and Employ- ment Law Section from 1988 to 1997, when he retired. He also chaired the Taft firm’s Employment Committee for many years and was responsible for recruiting and mentoring many young lawyers who went on to become leaders in the firm and in other diverse positions nationwide ranging from corporate in-house
counsel to federal judge.
Frank instructed a generation of young lawyers in the fine
points of persuasive writing and the value of a devilish sense of humor. Frank used his legal skills to serve as an arbitrator and mediator in private disputes, and he was an adjunct professor of Labor Law at the University of Cincinnati for many years. He was overjoyed to be invited to teach programs on mediation and arbi- tration at his alma mater, the University of Virginia Law School. Beyond his career in law, Frank was also a leader in the Cincinnati arts community, and served as a member and chair of the Cincin- nati Symphony Orchestra’s Board of Directors. His skill as a bridge player was legendary.
Daniel J. Hoffheimer Timothy P. Reilly Mark J. Stepaniak
Dave began his professional life as an electrical engineer for AVCO in Cincin- nati, having received both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincin-
nati. He never lost his fascination with technology.
He went to law school in the evening at Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University, and began his legal career at Mechley & Mechley handling general litigation. He then joined patent boutique Melville Strasser Foster & Hoffman and his patent litigation career took off. Dave joined the firm that was to become Frost Brown Todd when Melville Strasser merged with Frost &
Jacobs in the late 1970s.
Dave was a creative and brilliant litigator, who studied each
case until he could identify a winning strategy. The result was that many of his cases are still cited by courts today in the areas of trade secret and patent law, particularly. A high-point of his litigation career was the Hilton Davis v Warner-Jenkinson case, which he won for his client, Hilton Davis, at the district court and appellate court, and then argued before the United States Supreme Court.
Dave was always comfortable in the court room because he practiced tirelessly. Before his Supreme Court argument, he said that he delivered the argument tens of times to the furnace in his basement. He next presented his arguments to a moot court of the lawyers and business professionals of the firm’s Intellectual Prop- erty practice group, and then to a panel of University of Cincinnati law professors. Only then did he feel ready to go to Washington.
Dave was a demanding task master — but he asked no more from the business professionals and lawyers working with him than he demanded of himself. The associates working on research projects for him would know they were on the right track if the book that contained the case they needed was already checked out to Dave. He had gotten to the research before them.
Always looking to learn, a few years ago, Dave became Senior Vice President Corporate Intellectual Property for Intelligrated, and then Chief Legal Officer of Trew LLC. He enjoyed the new challenges of addressing business issues in addition to the legal questions. Dave was also a member of Mensa, an accomplished pianist, and he loved to travel internationally.
He is survived by his wife Christine (Celek) Schmit; sister Sally Schmit (Warren) Hall; son Casey (Reese Gibbons) Schmit of Austin Texas; son Christian Schmit; daughters Megan (Schmit) Blazek and Sarah (Schmit) Sally; step-son Michael Celek; step- daughter Jenna Celek; six grandchildren: KJ Sally and Jada Sally of Cincinnati, Lou Schmit of Cincinnati, Isabella Grace Blazek and Luke Isaiah Blazek of Cincinnati, and Juniper Phoenix Schmit of Austin Texas.
24 l September/October 2021 CBA REPORT
www.CincyBar.org
— Frost Brown Todd