Page 112 - ACTL Journal Win24

Navy choir which sang “The Lord’s Prayer” and “God of our Fathers” at the conclusion of World War II with Japan in August, 1945.
Tom ultimately completed both his liberal arts and legal education in four years after discharge and grad- uated from the University of Missouri Law School in 1950 at the age of twenty-two. Tom served as a Spe- cial Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1951-1952, and began private practice in Farmington, Missouri while serving as City Attorney. Shortly after leaving the FBI, Tom defended a young man charged with burglary who had given the Missouri State High- way Patrol a written confession. Tom’s client recanted his confession; and even though two other co-defen- dants testified against Tom’s client, Tom won the case by asserting misconduct on the part of the State Patrol. Tom specialized in defending railroads and national and international corporations in product liability and other types of litigation in a venue known as a hell-hole for out-of-town defendants. Tom is survived by his wife of seventy-five years, Patricia Lee Hughes Coghill, three children, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Robert J. Cooney, ’86, was eighty-nine when he passed on September 13, 2023. Robert attended Fairfield Uni- versity and Georgetown Law School. He clerked at the Connecticut Supreme Court for Justice James E. Mur- phy, and then practiced in Bridgeport until retiring in 2016. Robert was a president of the Bridgeport Bar Asso- ciation. He is survived by his wife Margaret Mary (Stack) Cooney, a son and stepdaughter, and three grandchildren.
Hon. Finis E. Cowan Jr., ’75, passed away at the age of ninety-four on November 15, 2023. After earning his undergraduate degree from Rice University, Finis served as a Marine Corps officer during the Korean War. He returned to Texas and graduated in 1956 from The University of Texas School of Law Order of the Coif. President Jimmy Carter nominated him to a seat on the Galveston Division of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where he served from 1977 to 1979. As a lawyer, Finis handled such diverse matters as stockholder suits, construction contract disputes, civil rights actions and antitrust cas- es. Over his career, Finis tried well over 100 jury trials against legendary Texas trial lawyers. Judge Cowan and his wife Julie raised six children.
John V. Diepenbrock, ’80, died a few weeks shy of his ninety-seventh birthday on March 15, 2023. Jack’s fam- ily roots extend to the Gold Rush and he was a devoted Sacramentan all his life. Jack enlisted in the Army at age seventeen and was a proud veteran of the First Cavalry Division, serving in World War II in the Pacific Theater. He attended Santa Clara University and Law School at Berkeley and practiced law for seventy years. Jack is sur- vived by his wife of forty years, Karen, seven children, nineteen grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren. Jack was a founding board member and later Chair of the Pacific Legal Foundation (1973), and a forty-three-year member of the Sacramento Host Committee. Jack was the first Sacramentan to be chairman of the state-wide California Chamber of Commerce (1997) and accompa- nied then Governor George Deukmejian to open Cali- fornia trade missions in Tokyo, Mexico City and London. He served as Finance Co-Chair for California for the first
“Reagan for President” campaign and long kept a poster of Ronald Reagan in a cowboy hat on a wall outside his office. Over the years Jack served as a director or trustee of more than twenty organizations that spanned such di- verse industries as banking and finance, publishing, hos- pitals, timber, high tech and communications, ice cream, affordable housing, philanthropy, and civic betterment; he played a role in the political campaigns of two Pres- idents of the United States, three California Governors, one Attorney General of California and a Congressman. Jack loved anything involving water: swimming, boating, skiing, bodysurfing off dangerous beaches. His personal motto was “siempre adelante” (always forward) with its corollary “never look back”.
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