Sheppard Mullin Mourns Loss of Retired Firm Partner Thomas Sheppard, Son of Firm Founder James Sheppard
Thomas R. Sheppard, retired Sheppard Mullin partner, passed away Wednesday. Sheppard was born in Pasadena on August 8, 1934, and received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University in 1956. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, and then attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1961.
Sheppard spent his entire legal career at Sheppard Mullin, and served on its Executive Committee. His primary field of interest was tax law, but this specialization drew him into estate planning, corporate and real estate practice. Sheppard was a founding member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. In the 1980's, he oversaw a thriving real estate development practice that included as clients the developers of the Citicorp Plaza mixed-use high-rise complex and the jewelry district in downtown Los Angeles. Sheppard chaired the Board of Trustees of the Della Martin Foundation, which has endowed Chairs for mental health research at USC, UCLA and UC-Irvine as well as a Discovery Fund for research at Caltech.
Sheppard Mullin of counsel Larry Gould commented, "Tom possessed a keen intellect, and was charismatic in his relationships with his clients. Those who worked with Tom will never forget his humor and the sense of fun that he brought to everything he did. Our firm is deeply saddened by his passing."