Seeger Weiss LLP Mourns the Passing of Melvyn I. Weiss

NEW YORK, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Seeger Weiss family mourns the loss of Melvyn I. Weiss, who passed away in his sleep last night at the age of 82, surrounded by his family.  He had been diagnosed with ALS last June, and lived his last days in the warm company of friends and family, who loved and respected him deeply.  

A founding partner of the internationally renowned law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad Specthrie & Lerach from 1965 to 2008 together with Lawrence "Larry" Milberg, Mel was known as "a lion of the plaintiff's bar," taking on corporate wrongdoers against all odds.  He pioneered the class action legal field, blazing trails that a generation of lawyers has followed to help level a playing field that for decades was tilted against disenfranchised individuals. 

Described by colleagues as "a brilliant and creative mind with unequalled character and charisma," Mel saw his work as a calling, fighting tirelessly to defend the rights of individuals wronged by powerful corporate interests.

"Throughout my life, my father was an inspiration, role model, and hero to me," said his son Stephen, a founding partner of plaintiff's law firm, Seeger Weiss LLP.  "He spent a lifetime in honest service to others, leaving his unique handprint on the practice of law and all of humanity, while somehow always managing to make time to be a loving husband and father.  The world is a better place because of Mel Weiss, and there will never be another like him."

Mel was known and beloved for his warmth, kindness and generosity, touching the lives of all who knew him.  He was broadly admired for his heroic and tireless professional and charitable work, dedicating years representing on a pro bono basis Holocaust victims against Swiss and German banks and industrial complexes, as well as countless victims of the September 11 tragedy, to name a few.  In the early 1990s, he and his wife established the Melvyn and Barbara Weiss Public Interest Foundation at the New York University School of Law, encouraging generations of lawyers to take on lower-paying public-interest jobs by paying their student loans. He served on countless philanthropic boards and committees, which were enriched by his sound wisdom, judgment and generosity.

Mel also trained and mentored younger lawyers throughout his career, including Christopher Seeger, who co-founded Seeger Weiss in 1999.  "Mel was a visionary, who was the first to use the class action mechanism to serve as a check against the power and abuses of corporate America to the benefit of millions of individuals in the United States and worldwide.  To me and many others who had the privilege of working with him, he'll always be remembered as a kind and generous man and a pioneering giant in our field.  He truly made this world a better place for the little guy," Seeger said.  

Mel was born in the Bronx in 1935 during the height of the Great Depression, and worked his way through law school as an accountant.  He graduated NYU Law School in 1959 before embarking on his storied career. He leaves behind his wife, Barbara, three children, Gary (Nancy), Stephen (Debra), and Leslie, and 7 grandchildren.   He will forever be in our hearts. 

SOURCE Seeger Weiss LLP

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