H. Blair White, ’75, an accomplished Chicago trial lawyer
and law firm leader, died on November 29, 2013 when
he was eighty-six. Blair was the forty-first lawyer when he
joined his firm in 1951. By the time he retired in 1994,
he had helped transform it into one of the largest and
most distinguished law firms in the world. During his
time as Chairman, the then Chicago-based office added
locations in New York, Los Angeles, the Pacific Rim and
the Middle East. Blair was very proud of his service as
Chairman of the Board of now Lurie Children’s Hospital
of Chicago. But Blair White was first and foremost a trial
lawyer and, despite his management responsibilities, he
maintained an active practice that included more than
one hundred trials, such as his representation of AT&T
in its landmark antitrust litigation with MCI, widely
viewed as an overwhelming victory for AT&T. Blair was
born in Burlington, Iowa and received his undergraduate
degree from the University of Iowa and his Juris Doctor
from the University of Iowa College of Law. Blair met
Joan Van Alstine while he was in law school and they
were married in 1954. In addition to Joan, Blair was survived
by two sons and two grandchildren.
William Key Wilde, ’86, was two weeks shy of eightysix
when he passed on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019. A
life member of the Board of Goodwill Industries, Bill also
served as a Trustee of Schreiner College in Texas and Montreat
College in North Carolina. A graduate of the College
of William and Mary in Virginia and the law school of
The University of Texas at Austin, Bill has been President
of the Houston Bar Association, a Director of the State Bar
of Texas, and a Director of Texas Association of Defense
Counsel. Bill was survived by his wife of sixty-two years,
Ann Austin, their four children and eight grandchildren.
Fred P. Wilson, Sr., ‘83, died peacefully on August
31, 2014 at the age of ninety-one. Fred’s education
at Memphis State College and Vanderbilt University
Law School was interrupted by World War II. After
graduating from Midshipmen’s School at Columbia
University, he served as a Naval Officer in the Pacific
Theater. After the war and completion of law school,
Fred practiced law in Memphis for fifty-four years.
Fred is the widower of Helen Jean Carter Wilson and
left two sons and a granddaughter.
Harvey W. Yarosky, ’82, passed at the age of eightyeight
on April 15, 2022 survived by his three children,
his long-time partner, Natalie Fochs Isaacs, and Natalie’s
children and grandchildren. Harvey earned his
law degree from McGill University in 1961. Throughout
his career, Harvey was involved in many high profile
cases, including the representation of members of
the RCMP and La Sûreté du Québec before federal
and provincial commissions of inquiry, acting as special
coroner to conduct an inquest into the shooting
death of Marcellus François by the Montreal Urban
Community police force, acting as special Crown prosecutor
in charges of drug trafficking brought against
the chief investigator of the RCMP drug section in
Montreal, and representing the Hon. Brian Mulroney
in proceedings against the Government of Canada and
the RCMP in the “Airbus Affair.” In addition to practicing
law, Harvey was an adjunct professor at McGill
University’s Faculty of Law and taught at the University
of Ottawa and the Université de Montréal.
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