Alan Robert Bromberg

Bromberg, Alan Robert Alan was University Distinguished Professor of Law at the Dedman School of Law, Southern Methodist University and a nationally known legal scholar in the fields of securities fraud and partnership law. As a colleague said, "Alan really brought country-wide attention to the SMU Law School". He died March 27, from injuries following an accident. He is survived by his wife, Anne, by his cousins John Bromberg, his wife Beth, and his children Spencer Bromberg, his wife Aneta and son; Whitney Bromberg Hawkings, her husband Peter and two sons; Campbell Bromberg; and Kemp Bromberg, his wife Maggie and son; and his cousin Henri Bromberg III (Skip), his wife Sharon and their daughter Jennifer. Alan, 85, was the son of Alfred and Juanita Bromberg, who devoted much of their lives to supporting the Democratic Party, the arts, libraries, universities, and humanitarian causes. Alan followed his parents' traditions all his life. He went to Woodrow Wilson High School, where he recently received a Distinguished Alumnus Award. He studied mathematics for his BA at Harvard and then received a JD from the Yale Law School, after which, he returned to Dallas, where he practiced law at Carrington, Gowan, Johnson, Bromberg and Leeds. In the late fifties Alan began to teach night classes at the SMU Law School. In 1957 he began a permanent teaching career at the Law School, rising to Associate Professor, Professor of Law and University Distinguished Professor of Law. He also continued to be of counsel to various law firms. Alan was a life member of the American Bar Association and the American Law Institute, as well as many other professional organizations. He was a visiting Professor at the Yale Law School (1966-67) and at Stanford University (1972-73). He participated in many committees of the State Bar of Texas, helping to draft legislation, as well as lecturing nationally on his legal specialties. Alan's publications include Cases and Materials on Texas Partnerships, with Byron Sher (SMU, 1958); Supplementary Materials on Texas Partnerships (SMU, 1859-1971); Securities Fraud and Commodities Fraud, Vol. I, 1967 to Vol. 7 (2003), extended by supplements since 1979, with Lewis Lowenfels; Crane and Bromberg on Partnership, 1968; Bromberg and Ribstein on Partnership (1988-2007). He also wrote numerous articles on legal subjects over the years. Alan was remembered as a tough, but brilliant, teacher, who influenced many of his students in their later lives. His colleague Marc Steinberg said: "Alan Bromberg was one of the truly national giants in company law, was my mentor, and my wonderful friend. I will miss him greatly." Another colleague, Paul C. Rogers III, said "Alan Bromberg was a meticulous and brilliant scholar with a well-earned national reputation in securities law. But as a colleague, no matter what his schedule, he was always there to lend a helping hand or a word of encouragement. He was particularly supportive of new faculty and helped them feel at home at the law school. We will all miss his caring and supportive attitude." As his wife of 54 years, I remember Alan's early days, when he worked for Democratic candidates with my older sisters and supported the arts vigorously, both at the old Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum for Contemporary Art. He encouraged me to go to Harvard and took me to the Margo Jones Theater, then a new star in Dallas. I hero-worshipped Alan as a teen-ager and still do. Alan was a wonderful person, kind and intelligent and thoughtful. Everyone loved and admired him. I feel very lucky to have shared my life and love with him. We thought and felt the same way and liked the same things: theater, opera, books, art, nature and gardening, travel. We were more than fortunate to have been able to spend our life together travelling around the world: Europe from Ireland to the Ukraine, the Americas, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, all over Africa, Iran, Central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, Bali and Java, China and Japan. We bought art of all sorts from these places, ranging from Sri Lankan curing masks to Indian bronze sculptures of gods and heroes, to Asmat ancestor figures and Bolivian textiles. Alan also supported my professional work, which animated our love of third world cultures, first at the Dallas Theater Center under Paul Baker (where Alan had drafted the contract with Frank Lloyd Wright for the design of the Kalita Humphreys theater) and then at the Dallas Museum of Art (where Alan was a lifetime member of the Board of the Foundation for the Arts, the single largest acquisition fund at the DMA). His parents had left important parts of their art collection to the DMA, and Alan retained that passion. He was also a superb photographer. His photos go from 1950 to his death and are wonderful images of all the places we travelled The catalogue I published on Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art at the museum included many of Alan's site photographs, I particularly like the juxtaposition of a fine sculpture of the god Shiva's mount, a Nandi bull, with Alan's picture of a handsome Indian Zebu bull from our first trip to india, A continuously running video in the DMA galleries illustrates Hinduism and Buddhism with Alan's photos. This lifetime collection of photography will be digitized and form a treasure for the future. It says something about Alan's enthusiasm for collecting art from remote places and bringing it back to decorate our home, that people who know nothing about Asmat shields or Native American ceremonial masks often say that this is the neatest house they have ever seen. Another keen interest of Alan was gardening. Once a week he came home and worked hard in our back-to-nature garden, digging, pruning and planting. It seems right that he died in the springtime, with all the deciduous magnolias, Japanese maples, dogwood, peach and pear trees, and azaleas that he loved in full leaf and flower. He greatly enjoyed chain sawing at home and at our place in East Texas, an endless forest of trees, water and wildlife. He had a very good life, working hard and enjoying that work, as well as home cooking, opera videos, and the twitter of cardinals in the trees. I always told him that he was the best thing in the world and an angel, to which he always replied "Rubbish!". But he was an angel. There will be a memorial party at a later date for family and friends. Donations may be made to the Underwood Law Library at SMU or to The Wendover Fund for the benefit of the Dallas Museum of Art.