Deceased September 22, 1999

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In Memory

Zach Karol died on Sept. 22, after battling pancreatic cancer for several months. The next day, the Boston Globe’s obituary quoted U.S. District Court Judge William Young, who called Zach “one of the most devoted and thoughtful jurists ever to grace the bench. Unassuming and gentle, he possessed a spirit of unshakable integrity and radiated a meticulous concern for every person in his courtroom. He was our friend and superb colleague.”

At the time of his death, Zach was a U.S. magistrate judge, a position he held since 1993. Before then, he was a litigation attorney and eventually partner at the firm of Bingham, Dana & Gould in Boston. He earned his law degree from Harvard, magna cum laude as he had also earned his B.A. at Amherst, after a term as a teacher in the New York public school system.

Tributes to Zach have flowed in from many sources, including classmates and AD fraternity brothers, and from the Hon. Richard Collings, brother of Peter Collings ’68, who met Zach when their legal career paths crossed. Thoughtful words in memory of Zach, and excerpts from Judge Collings' tribute follow.

From Ted Giese: “I’d known Zach since our first night in Stearns dormitory freshman year and had kept in fairly close contact with him throughout the years. To say he was a friend barely scratches the surface. He was always there when you needed him, always ready to offer advice, encouragement and reason. Most of all, I’ll remember his laugh—it usually started with a twinkle in his eye, then a few chuckles when you weren’t sure if he was clearing his throat, and finally a full-bellied laugh that was so hearty it would infect the room.

“Zach’s dream was to serve as a justice which he did for the last six months of his life. It was as if the position was created for him. He was finally in his element as he cared a great deal about other people. He was kind, gentle, fair and honest.

“What he cared about was his family. He never forgot his roots, and he glowed when relaying news about his children, Michele (Wesleyan ’94) and Peter (Amherst ’99). One of the tragic consequences of his death is that he never saw his grandchildren for he would have made a superb grandfather. I knew Zach only a month longer than Joy, his wife of 31 years. They were together all of Zach’s adult life and seemed destined to be together forever.

“Zach was philosophical about his cancer, calling it a random piece of bad luck. Although he was realistic about his chances, he never lost his dignity, his compassion for others or even his wonderfully wry sense of humor. Zach felt he had been fortunate in his life; was immensely proud of his family; and was ready for the next phase, wherever that might lead. Last September, I lost a very good friend whose passing I still cannot accept.”

Rich Sullivan adds: “Jeff Goff and I roomed with Zach our senior year on the third floor of AD. I most remember Zach for his wonderful appetite for life. Whether it was whale’s tales at two a.m. in the basement of AD, a last minute discovery of a snafu in the calculations of his senior economics thesis, playing a late afternoon game of bridge, Zach was alive with fun, energy and intelligence—though his thesis error only got to be fun when he finally found a solution. We in AD all relied on Zach’s can-do competence. He had good moral perception, saw where other people might be hurting and did and said the insightful, helpful thing. He was a special person, and I will miss him.”

From Joe Kelly ’67: “I got to know Zach during my junior year (his sophomore) when we lived across the hall from each other in AD. If ever there were two people on different paths, we were those two. But proximity bred friendship, and some of my fondest memories of Amherst involve Zach.

“He taught me how to play chess and we spent hours at it. I never won. Maybe it was the Budweiser. I tried to teach Zach some of the mysteries of the golf swing. He had a good, athletic swing and lots of power, but his direction was a bubble or two off plumb.

“Zach had a keen intelligence coupled with a great sense of humor, which seemed to give him a balanced perspective on people and events. He was a truly humane person.”

Felix Springer: “Lots of thoughtful people have offered heartfelt, wonderful and insightful tributes to Zach Karol. I write not because I hope to add much but because the words and the memories they evoke bring comfort.

“What I remember most was Zach’s smile. Warm, genuine and enveloping—a reflection, no doubt, of his inner self. It changed little from our years at Amherst to our 30th Reunion.

“At Amherst, I remember Zach as a friend and fraternity brother whom people admired, liked greatly and respected—a rare combination of modesty, wit and wise counsel. Continually and deservingly elected to leadership positions at AD, he always sought to bridge gaps between people and smooth roiled waters.

“For Zach, being a judge was clearly the perfect calling. The best insight I received about that was at our 30th Reunion when we appeared on a panel together about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent sexual harassment cases. I couldn’t take off my advocate’s hat, but Zach was there probing and shedding light on the issues that divided people, why they were difficult to resolve and how one needed to be understanding of diverse points of view. It was a brief moment, but Zach was terrific.

“I am truly sorry I and others won’t have the benefit of more such moments.”

A Tribute by The Honorable Robert B. Collings: 

“The federal judiciary in Massachusetts, the Boston legal community and magistrate judges around the country mourned the death on Sept. 22, 1999, of Magistrate Judge Zachary R. Karol at the young age of 53.

“I recall that I had met Zach only once before he became a magistrate judge when he appeared before me as co-counsel in a complex commercial case in the 1980s. I later came to find out that he had been a classmate of my brother at Amherst College from which both graduated in 1968. However, the day I first began to know Zach was on May 25, 1993, the day he was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge at the old federal courthouse in Boston. And what I remember most about that day was the superb speech he gave after the oath of office had been administered. Then Chief Judge Tauro, who presided at the ceremony, remarked that he couldn’t ‘… recall hearing a more inspiring address by a newly appointed judge.’ After Zach passed away, I remembered the speech (indeed, I never had forgotten it), and Zach’s secretary gave me a copy. Rereading it, I could not help but be impressed by how true Zach was during his six years on the bench to the words he uttered on that occasion.

“He gave back to all of us, his colleagues on the bench, the attorneys who appeared before him and the individual litigants. It is indeed extraordinary that many of the tributes paid to him at the time of his death testified to his contributions which, in large measure, mirrored the expectations for himself which he set forth in the speech on the day of his swearing-in.

“He taught us all by example. As District Judge Nancy Gertner wrote in her tribute, ‘In the formal hierarchy of the court, I, the judge, was supposedly higher than he, a magistrate judge. The hierarchy was all wrong. I learned from him. ... we all did or should have.’

“These qualities never faltered; as his illness worsened, his bravery and courage were an inspiration to us. From the outset, his diagnosis was quite grim, but Zach persevered. It must have been torture. I recall his telling me about how such and such treatment he was being given seemed to be working only to see his disappointment a few weeks later when it was apparent that the treatment’s efficacy had diminished. But he never was unrealistic or secretive about his condition. When Judge Ken Neiman, our colleague from Springfield, Mass., took Zach to a Red Sox game, he mentioned that there were reports of some promising new treatments being developed for patients with the type of illness Zach had; Zach’s response was that they would come too late for him.

“During his illness, Zach spoke of having short-term goals and moving from one goal to another. The first goal was to attend his son Peter’s graduation from his alma mater, Amherst College, in June. He made that one. Another was spending some time in Wellfleet on Cape Cod at the same cottage he and his family had traditionally rented during August. He made that goal too but unfortunately had to cut the vacation short when the illness got worse.

“Through it all, Zach came to work. He would usually have treatments on Mondays and be out on Tuesdays, but he would be back at work on Wednesday for the rest of the week. During the last 10 months of his life, he issued 14 reports and recommendations and six memoranda and orders in civil cases and one opinion detailing his findings of fact and conclusions of law in a case assigned to him.

“As Chief Judge Young said in concluding his remarks at the funeral: ‘His life has given each of us a gift of inestimable value—for we have walked together with a brave and good man—a judge.’ One can only respond ‘Amen!’”