My Friendship With The Late Judge Ellsworth Van Graafeiland

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In the winter edition of the Monroe County Bar Association publication Views, there is a beautiful obituary of Judge Ellsworth A. Van Graafeiland written by Judge Michael Telesca and read by Judge Jonathan Feldman at a memorial service on Nov. 27, 2004.

Judge Telesca tells of the great legal mind that Van had and that he was friendly, upbeat and had a great sense of humor. I quite agree with what was said since I knew Van as a young lawyer. We were admitted within a year of each other and were frequently in police court or handling civil matters in city court where the client or the subject matter did not justify an experienced lawyer.

After about six months I received a phone call from a former roommate of mine at Duke University who was working at the Curtiss-Wright Corp. in Buffalo, saying that they needed a lawyer as legal adviser to the purchasing department and would I be interested≠ I was about to be married and the pay was twice the amount that I was making. I went to Buffalo and got the job.

There were many federal regulations that had to be complied with: the Controlled Materials Plan, which set priorities for obtaining scarce materials; and price controls under which one could not just bid more to get what one wanted.

Reports had to be filed so that manufacturing materials could be located and be made available to anyone with a higher priority. Curtiss-Wright had the highest priority at the time because it was manufacturing the P-40, a fighter plane very much in demand by the Air Force since we were at war at the time.

It soon became apparent that a second lawyer was needed in the department and I called Van to see if he might be interested. He was, and came to Buffalo immediately and was offered the position.

He returned to Rochester and reported his offer to Strang, Wright, Combs, Wiser and Shaw, the firm where he was employed as an associate. They quickly called a firm meeting and then told Van they would make him a partner if he would remain with them. He agreed and soon thereafter the announcement was made that he had become a partner.

I always claimed credit for having made him a partner, but Van, with becoming modesty, took exception to that and said it was due to his brilliance.

We used to have lunch together, on occasion, at the restaurant on the top floor of Sibley’s store, and he would always have a chocolate sundae for dessert, but would never buy me one. After he was appointed a judge in federal court I seldom saw him.

Then, three weeks before he died, he was having a doughnut and coffee at the Brighton Doughnut Shop on Monroe Avenue, and as I entered, I walked over to him and turning, he saw me and said, “When are you going to buy me a chocolate sundae≠”

As Judge Telesca wrote, “They don’t make them like Van anymore, I’ll miss him.” And so will I.

J. Coyne O’Brien is secretary of the Monroe County Bar Association’s Past Presidents’ Committee. O’Brien, along with Justice David O. Boehm and Nathan Robfogel, screen stories for this column.