Genevieve Lam Fraiman

Genevieve Lam Fraiman, 94, died at her home in Charlottesville, VA on November 1, 2022. Born in Honolulu, HI to Dr. Frederick K. Lam, Sr. and Chee Kuen Loo Lam, she attended the Punahou School, Wellesley College, and Columbia Law School. One of thirteen women in her law school class, she went on to become the first woman and first Asian-American partner at the venerable New York firm, Lord, Day & Lord. A Trusts and Estates attorney with particular expertise in Art Law, she worked with such clients as the Metropolitan Museum. She herself collected American folk art and Chinese porcelains. She was active in the American and New York State Bar Associations. Other memberships included the Cosmopolitan Club of NYC and the Doolittle Club of Norfolk, CT. Beloved wife to law school classmate Arnold G. Fraiman and adored mother of two children, Susan Fraiman of Charlottesville, VA and Peter Fraiman of Kent, WA, she led the way in balancing career and family. Stalwart, pragmatic, and uncomplaining, Gen was also gracious, generous, and very loving. A resident of Manhattan for more than fifty years, she was an inveterate New Yorker, skilled in the art of alternate side parking, a regular at the Metropolitan Opera, a diehard reader of the NYT. For decades she rode the subway from the Upper East Side to her office at Bowling Green. An avid skier and tennis player, she and Arnold took up rowing in their 50s. Throughout her life, she took pleasure in raising orchids, watching birds, and playing the piano. She doted on her dog Wizard, a Westie whose independent and loyal personality matched hers. She was strong, curious, and unafraid-a ground-breaking professional woman who was apt to downplay her many accomplishments. Her loving support for her husband, children, and grandchildren was unfailing. She will be greatly missed.