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Prominent Hamilton lawyer served as Miami trustee

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By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer 6:05 PM Monday, February 20, 2012

HAMILTON — Barbara Morgenstern said she cried for the first time Monday when asked what she’ll remember most about her father, Carl Morgenstern.

Following a lengthy pause, she answered: “When all of his accomplishments drop away, I’ll always remember his unconditional love. He was a great man.”

She said her father, a prominent Hamilton attorney, a 1948 Harvard Law School graduate and former Miami University trustee, dedicated his life to public service. He died of complications related to pneumonia Feb. 19 at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. He was 90.

Barbara Morgenstern, an attorney from Wyoming and journalism law professor at Miami University, said her father, whose parents were born in Russia, always cherished the opportunities in the United States, the public education and the public tennis courts across the street from his home where he became an excellent tennis player.

She said her father, a World War II Army veteran who served in Europe, used the GI Bill to pay for his Harvard Law School education just decades after his parents, Henry and Lilien Morgenstern, emigrated from Kapulia, Russia in the 1920s.

Morgenstern operated his own general practice law firm in Hamilton for more than 50 years and was known for taking controversial cases.

Morgenstern was president of the Butler County Bar Association in 1979 and a member of the Ohio State Bar Association’s Executive Committee.

For 10 years in the 1960’s he served on the school board of the Hamilton City Schools. He was appointed Trustee of Miami University in 1973.

The Hamilton Journal News selected Morgenstern as a “Citizen of the Year” in 1997 and his nomination statement described him as a “fierce advocate for the citizens of Hamilton.”

Services will be held Wednesday at Weil Funeral Home, 8350 Cornell Road, with burial following at the United Jewish Cemetery, 7885 Ivygate Lane, both in Montgomery.

Shiva will be observed at the home of Barbara Morgenstern from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Minyan services each evening begin at 7 p.m.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 49 years, Marilyn Morgenstern, who died in a 1999 car accident.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

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