Edward Borkon ’58 Trial Lawyer

Edward H. Borkon ’58, a longtime private practitioner and friend and supporter of the Law School, passed away December 3 at the age of 92. 

Borkon served in the U.S. Marine Corps and 11th Armored Calvary Division of the U.S. Army in the 1950s before enrolling at Minnesota Law. He started his legal career working with the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis. In 1961, he joined the firm of Schermer and Gensler, where he later became a named partner. During his more than half century of practice, he was a mentor and friend to many. 

Willard “Sandy” Boyd ’51 Former University of Iowa President

Former University of Iowa president Willard “Sandy” Boyd ’51 died December 13 at the age of 95.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Boyd received both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Minnesota. He went on to obtain Master of Law and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees from the University of Michigan. 

Boyd practiced law for two years in Minneapolis and the joined the faculty of the University of Iowa in 1954. He later served as associate dean of the University of Iowa College of Law and vice president of academic affairs. 

Boyd became president of the University of Iowa in 1969, serving for 12 years before leaving to serve as president of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. After retiring from the Field Museum,he returned to the Iowa as a law professor in 1996 and served as interim president in 2002–03.

He formally retired from the University in 2015. 

Julian Edward Collins ’78 Retired Florida Circuit Court Judge

Julian Edward Collins ’78, a retired circuit court judge, died December 1 at the age of 78. 

Collins was elected to the benchof Columbia County in Florida in 1988. After 11 years on the Columbia County bench, he was appointed a Circuit Court judge. Collins held that seat for the next 14 years, until he reached the state’s mandatory judicial retirement age of 70. He served about four of those years as chief judge. 

Collins was also a veteran. He served three years on active duty beginning in December 1968, including a year in Vietnam, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star. He ultimately obtained the rank of captain. 

David Durenberger ’59 Three-Term U.S. Senator

David Durenberger ’59, who served 16 years in the U.S. Senate, died January 31 at the age of 88. 

In 1955, Durenberger graduated from St. John's University in Collegeville. The top cadet in his ROTC class, he became a lieutenant in the Army Counter-Intelligence Corps and later a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve. He graduated from Minnesota Law in 1959 and practiced corporate law. 

Durenberger went into politics early in his career, serving as executive secretary to Gov. Harold LeVander. He also worked for Minnesota Governor Elmer L. Andersen. In 1978, he was electedto the U.S. Senate, holding his seat three terms. As a senator, he advocated for expansion of Medicare benefits, gender equity, and disability rights, including the Americans With Disabilities Act. 

Mahlon Floyd Hanson ’69 Former Minnesota Workers Compensation Court of Appeals Judge

Mahlon Floyd Hanson ’69, a former judge for the Minnesota Workers Compensation Court of Appeals and the Miami Immigration Court, died December 29 at the age of 77. 

Hanson received both his bachelor of arts and law degrees from the University of Minnesota. In addition to his judicial service, he served as an assistant counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in Minnesota and later in Miami. 

Hanson also served as a Staff Judge Advocate Officer in the U.S. Army on active duty and as a reservist. He retired as a Colonel. 

Jacinta ‘Cinta’ Matagolai Kaipat ’97 Former Representative, Northern Marina Islands

Jacinta “Cinta” Matagolai Kaipat ’97, a former House representative for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, died February 22 at the age of 61. 

Kaipat, the first Refaluwasch woman to become a lawyer, also served as assistant attorney general and as deputy secretary of the common- wealth’s Department of Labor. 

A cultural advocate, Kaipat was also one of the founders of Beautify CNMI!, a nonprofit coalition seeking to enhance the natural beauty of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and to foster community pride in its residents and visitors. 

Allan Ryan ’70 ‘Nation's Foremost Nazi Hunter’ 

Allan A. Ryan ’70, a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer who in the 1980s was responsible for finding and prosecuting dozens of Nazi collaborators living in the United States, died January 26 at the age of 77. 

Ryan served as the director of the Office of Special Investigations, a U.S. Justice Department unit. The office was created in 1979 in light of reports that thousands of Nazi collaborators had come to the United States as refugees after World War II, many under assumed identities. 

The New York Times referred to Ryan as “the nation’s foremost Nazi hunter” for his work, which included a team of 20 lawyers and 10 investigators. He later worked at Harvard University and taught classes at Boston College Law School. His daughter, Elisabeth Ryan, says of her father’s life and legacy, “To this day, my brother and I follow it as a core principle in our lives,” she said. “He loved the law but he was always acutely aware that the law itself could be unjust, as could the people who write and interpret it. But he was eternally optimistic in its ability to be transformative for good.”

Jeanne Sederberg ’52 First Woman to Serve on Sixth District Bench

Sixth Judicial District Judge Jeanne H. Sederberg ’52 died October 30 at the age of 96. 

After graduating Law School as one of only a handful of women in her class, Sederberg could not find work at a Duluth law firm so she started her own private practice, specializing in real estate, probate, and wills. 

After practicing privately and becoming a public defender, Sederberg was appointed as a Judicial Officer for St. Louis County in 1974. After 18 years as a judicial officer, she was appointed a Sixth District Court judge, the first woman ever to hold that position. In 1996, Sederberg retired from the bench and spent the next two decades as an arbitrator for the Housing and Redevelopment Authority of Duluth. 

Sederberg served on many governing boards. She was a charter appointee to the Western Lake Superior Sanitary Commission (WLSSD), overseeing the building of the new water filtration plant. She was also on the board of directors for the new hockey facility of Marshall School, and the board for Northland Children’s home, working to improve the lives of the children in the community.