Executive Director’s Message by Karen A. Gould Three Giants of the Bar Are Lost T HE V IRGINIA S TATE B AR suffered three significant losses in recent months, with the deaths of former presidents Roderick B. Mathews, Robert H. Patterson Jr., and William B. Poff. The three were not only leaders of our State Bar, they were giants of the legal profession in the state, the coun-try, and the world. R ODERICK B ELL M ATHEWS , who was bar president in 1987–88, died April 27, 2012, at his home in Richmond. Rod Mathews was a tireless advo-cate for the rule of law. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that in 2006 he helped launch the World Justice Project, whose mission is advancing the rule of law throughout the world. He was treasurer of the project when he died of cancer. In tribute, the World Justice Project Opportunity Fund, which provides seed money for on-the-ground programs generated in regional and global meetings, will be renamed in his honor. Robert Grey, former ABA president and Richmond lawyer, eulogized Rod with this message: “We all know Rod Mathews as a former President of the VSB and the longtime Virginia State Delegate to the ABA. But what you may not know is that Rod Mathews was a bar leader with worldwide expe-riences. He studied, visited and valued all societies, cultures and the rule of law here and abroad. To that end, Rod was a founding board member and officer of the World Justice Project, an organization formed to aid all coun-tries in improving civil society through a multi-disciplined effort. Rod thought deeply about the rule of law and was committed to making a difference. We will truly miss him.” Rod’s interest in rule of law pro-grams continued up until his death. He was instrumental in orchestrating rule of law programs held through the gen-erous support of the Virginia Law Foundation at the Holocaust Museum in Richmond. Rod was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, grew up in Charleston, West Virginia, and moved to Richmond in 1957. He graduated from Douglas S. Freeman High School and in 1963 he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Hampden-Sydney College. He earned a law degree from the University of Richmond, where he was on the law review. He also graduated from the executive program of the University of Michigan School of Business. Rod began practicing law with the firm now known as Christian & Barton LLP. He left the firm after 22 years and became senior vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia, which he was instrumental in turning into a mutual insurance and publicly traded company. He also served as Virginia’s delegate to the American Bar Association’s policy-making House of Delegates for 23 years. Rod was also very active in the Virginia Law Foundation, serving on its board of directors from 2004 to 2010. After retiring, Rod worked as an arbitrator in health law cases. He was a certified mediator under the rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Survivors include his wife, Karia Kurbjun Mathews; three sons, Roderick B. Mathews Jr. of Columbia, South Carolina, Andrew Crittenden Mathews of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Malcolm Timothy Mathews of Anacortes, Washington; a brother, Frank Bell Mathews of Charleston, West Virginia; a sister, Judith Schulze of Lewes, Delaware; and five grand-children. R OBERT H. P ATTERSON J R . , who was president in 1985–86, died July 12, 2012, at VCU Medical Center. He was 85 and had been in declining health for more than a year. Mr. Patterson grew up on Richmond’s Church Hill, the son of a railroad man and a nurse. The Times-Dispatch noted that Mr. Patterson was chairman of McGuireWoods from 1979 until 1989. He spent his career with McGuireWoods, joining one of its antecedents as an associate in 1952. McGuireWoods lauded Mr. Patterson’s “commanding presence, his ability to marshal resources, his capacity to inspire, his knack for getting people to lay aside their personal concerns and unite to accomplish a common goal” as being Giants of the Bar continued on page 66 12 VIRGINIA LAWYER | October 2012 | Vol. 61 www.vsb.org