Paul E. B Glad

Paul E B Glad

Paul E.B. Glad

Paul E.B. Glad, a nationally renowned insurance law expert and appellate advocate, died unexpectedly from natural causes on September 8 in Palo Alto. He was 63.

Paul was born March 21, 1950 in Jacksonville, Florida. His father, a navy pilot, was killed in a training accident when Paul was six weeks old, and the family returned to his mother's native California. Her marriage to another navy pilot, Butch O'Hara, took the family to Memphis, Pensacola, Sanford, and eventually to Alexandria, Virginia, where Paul was a standout scholar and star athlete despite having to overcome a debilitating neuromuscular disorder. Paul's love of the West took him to Stanford University, where he played on the football team and began a lifelong relationship with the university. Paul was introduced to the legal system after his 1972 college graduation, when he worked in the Own Recognizance project for San Mateo County, and later enrolled in law school at UCLA. After graduating in 1977, Glad clerked for Justice James Cobey, of the California Court of Appeal, and then took a job with the Los Angeles office of Barger & Wolen, specializing in insurance law.

The Barger firm sent Paul to open its San Francisco office in 1983, from which he was recruited in 1987 by the national firm of Sonnenschein Carlin Nath & Rosenthal, now known as Dentons US LLP. Glad chaired the firm's Insurance Practice for more than fifteen years, chaired the Appellate Department, grew the San Francisco office to more than seventy-five attorneys, was the firm's San Francisco managing partner for twenty-two years, and sat on the firm's management committee for twenty-five years. He handled thousands of disputes throughout the country and argued in front of numerous state supreme courts and federal courts, resulting in more than forty-five published opinions. His cases led to landmark decisions involving the interpretation of insurance policies, regulation of insurers, bad faith liability, and insurance coverage for environmental contamination and intellectual property disputes, among others.

Paul married the love of his life, Crickette Brown, in 1984, shortly after they met at an art gallery. They became a couple who loved being in each other's company. They moved to San Mateo in 1987, and together they adopted and raised three children, Sebastian, Santiago, and Paloma.

Paul loved sharing life and his enthusiasms for family, sports, dogs, travel, and progressive causes with Crickette and with others. He had a true gift for friendship. People across generations and from all walks of life will remember his many big-hearted gestures, from surprising an old friend by appearing unexpectedly on a Sunday, to plant her front yard with impatiens, to creating the "Subordinate Clause" program at his law firm, gathering and distributing holiday gifts to underprivileged children.

Paul was big-hearted, open-hearted, and irreplaceable. He will be deeply missed by his family, friends, and colleagues whose lives he touched so profoundly.

A private burial service was held in Crickette's home town of Marion, Ohio on September 17, and a public service will be held October 20 at 1:00PM at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. In addition to Crickette, Paul is survived by his children Sebastian, Santiago, and Paloma; mother, Irene; his older brother Mike and Mike's wife, Jeanne; his younger sister, Karen Ayers and her husband, Billy.