MORRIS ORENS

ORENS--Morris. 1948-2022. Merger and acquisitions attorney Morris Orens died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He was 74. Orens worked on some of the highest-profile Wall Street Deals in the 80's. He's best known for representing Merv Griffin in his successful battle with Donald Trump over the acquisition of Resorts International, Inc. "Donald Trump may have written The Art of the Deal," said a former associate, "but he could have learned a lot from Morris, who cleaned his clock on the Resorts deal." His friend, Donna Olshan, remembered him as a young man, heading at high speed down the ski mountain. "He skied like he lived," she said, "fierce at work and at play." After completion of an undergraduate degree in economics at NYU in 1969, Orens attended Brooklyn Law School where he was Valedictorian and the first student in the school's history to graduate Summa cum Laude. He was recruited by the prestigious deal firm, Skadden, Arps Meager & Flom, and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1974. From Skadden he joined Olshan Grundman & Frome, where he represented Griffin. He also provided legal counsel to Carl Icahn in the early days of his career as a corporate raider. He ended his legal career at Shereff, Friedman, Hoffman & Goodman and later became a partner in The Learning Annex. Morris Orens was born in Germany to survivors of the Holocaust and came to America as an infant. A long-time resident of New York City, he relocated to Chapel Hill in 2009, spending winters in North Carolina and summers on a lake in New Jersey. A passionate audiophile and athlete, his fitness routine included daily trips to the gym, the tennis courts and the golf courses. He is survived by his sister, Rosie Orens-Katz and his wife, Courtney Hudson. A memorial service is planned in New York City on January 6, 2023 at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, 7 West 83rd Street at 11:00am.