District Court Honors Firm Co-Founder, Eugene B. Strassburger, for His Major Contributions to the American Law Institute, as Part of the ALI’S Centennial Celebration

E.J. Strassburger, former President of SMGG, recently spoke at an American Law Institute (A.L.I.) 100th Anniversary celebration honoring his grandfather and founding member of SMGG, Eugene B. Strassburger.

At the program, “Reflections on the Influence on the American Law Institute of Early Members from the Western District of Pennsylvania,” the late and great Eugene B. Strassburger was remembered for his unwavering commitment to improving the law through the work of the A.L.I.

E.J. spoke fondly of the personal and professional influence his grandfather had on him, the law, and the community in Western Pennsylvania. He described his grandfather’s journey from his early days as the son of a German immigrant living outside Pittsburgh, through Harvard Law School, to the historic partnership of a Catholic and Jewish lawyer in the Strassburger & McKenna law firm, still standing 105 years later.

E.J. recalled, “My grandfather’s professional life from 1919 until his death 59 years later had two polestars – community service and the law.”

Eugene not only founded a historic Pittsburgh law firm, he educated a new generation of lawyers as a teacher at Duquesne University Law School, and literally wrote the law, as a co-drafter of parts of the Uniform Commercial Code. From 1946, he was an active member of the A.L.I. and sat on its council and executive committee.

E.J. told attendees that one of his grandfather’s most significant contributions to the A.L.I. was in his role as one of seven managers of the Maurice and Laura Falk Foundation. In its 35-year existence, the Falk Foundation made grants totaling more than $33 million to causes important to the improvement of the human condition, with Eugene B. Strassburger at its helm.

SMGG is proud to stand alongside the A.L.I. and the Strassburger family in celebrating our founding partner, Eugene B. Strassburger.

Read to E.J.’s full speech, click here.

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