Larry P. Boyd, ’04, was only sixty-one when he passed
on July18, 2020. Larry earned both his undergraduate
and law degrees from Baylor University. He graduated
summa cum laude and first in his class of 124 students;
he excelled in the Baylor Practice Court and was Editor
in Chief of the Baylor Law Review. Upon graduation,
Larry clerked on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for
the Fifth Circuit with the Honorable Sam Johnson. A
man of many pleasures, Larry loved fast cars and Italian
motorcycles, owning many makes and models. His
children feigned displeasure but were secretly impressed
when Larry popped wheelies, but the truth was that his
hubris could at times exceed his skill on a bike. Larry
was survived by his wife, Cheryl, and their two children.
Patrick Anthony Casey, ’05, a former New Mexico
State Chair, died on April 5, 2022 two weeks shy of his
seventy-eighth birthday. Pat was survived by his wife of
fifty-one years, Gail, and their two sons. Pat received his
B.A. degree from New Mexico State University and his
law degree from University of Arizona. He was proud to
have taken and passed the Arizona and New Mexico bar
exams within three days of each other. Pat proudly served
in the Navy in Vietnam. He was an advisor to the South
Vietnamese Air Force and remained a member of different
veteran’s organizations until the time of his death.
Pat’s name might seem a touch Irish, but he was proud of
his Spanish heritage and loved his first language, Spanish,
especially the “dichos” of Northern New Mexico.
James Edgar Cobb, ’81, died on December 31, 2018
the day before his eighty-ninth birthday. Jim swam as a
walk-on for the University of Florida varsity swim team.
After serving in the Air Force from 1952 to 1954, he
spent several months in New York as a tour guide for
NBC studios. On a blind date, he met his wife of sixty-
four years, Virginia Wenz Cobb. After getting married,
they returned to Gainesville and Jim graduated from the
University of Florida Law School in 1958. Jim was past
president of the Jacksonville Bar Association and a former
President of the National Association of the Railroad
Trial Counsel. Jim and Ginny enjoyed traveling all over
the world to places like the Galapagos Islands, Australia,
Egypt, and China. Jim was survived by Ginny, three children,
eleven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Justice Michel Andre Coccia, ’72, age eighty-six, died on
November 20, 2008. Mike served in the U.S. Navy during
WWII. Upon retirement from his law firm in Chicago,
Mike was appointed to the Illinois Appellate Court. When
he left the bench in 1991, he and his wife Connie relocated
to their beloved “North Woods” in Wisconsin, what
Mike always called “God’s Cathedral.” Mike was survived
by Connie, three sons and four grandsons.
William A. Brace, ’86, passed peacefully on June 14,
2020 at the age of eighty-six. Bill attended Illinois College
in Jacksonville, where he met and married his wife
of sixty-six years, Mary Lou Neirman. After college, the
U.S. Marine Corps and law school, the Braces settled in
Santa Barbara, calling it home until his death. The Santa
Barbara Zoo, and especially the train, became his charitable
passion. Bill and his young family spent weekends
laying track and were among the first to get a ride on the
train that still circles the zoo grounds today. He served as
President of the Santa Barbara Zoological Society from
1983 – 1985. Bill was pre-deceased by Mary Lou and
survived by four children and ten grandchildren.
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