As reported in the December 2024 NAFUSA newsletter, former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico and founding NAFUSA member Victor Otega died in May 2024, at the age of 91.
On February 6, 2025, a ceremony was held in the U.S. Attorneys Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico during which the flag flown over the Department of Justice in honor of former U. S. Attorney Ortega was presented to Carol Ortega, his widow. The presentation was made by lifetime NAFUSA member and former president Bill Lutz on behalf of NAFUSA. In addition to Mrs. Ortega, the ceremony was attended by current U.S. Attorneys Holland Kastin, Judge Harris Hartz from the 10th Circuit, who worked for Mr. Ortega in the 1970’s, and former U.S. Attorneys Fred Federici and Alexander Euballez , among others. Mrs. Ortega expressed her gratitude and thanked NAFUSA for the ceremony and flag honoring her late husband.
New Jersey Assistant U.S. Attorney John Romano captivated NAFUSA’s 2024 Annual Conference attendees as he related the long and twisted history of the prosecution of foster parents Carolyn and Keith Jackson, who brutally tortured and starved young children in their care. The original trial judge sentenced the couple three times, twice after remand from the Third Circuit, significantly lower than the verdict and sentencing guidelines called for. The case went up to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals three times. The sentence was finally vacated and the case remanded for resentencing before a different judge. The link to the Third Circuit’s opinion on the appeal of the new sentence is below. Spoiler alert: John’s perseverance once again prevailed. Congratulations, John, and thank you!
The 2025 annual conference in Washington D.C. October 8-10 will open early for NAFUSA golfers. Conference attendees will be able to play a round of golf with fellow members and guests at the historic Army Navy Country Club on Army Navy Drive in Arlington, Virginia. Registration for the reserved tee times on Wednesday morning, October 8, and for transport to the golf course from the conference hotel, will open concurrently with conference registration this summer.
The Army Navy Country Club was established in 1925. It sits in part on the site of Fort Richardson, a Union fort which commanded the highest ground of the forts on the Virginia side of D.C. defending the nation’s capital during the Civil War. It is a private, member-owned country club whose membership ranges from civilians to Active Duty and Retired Commissioned Officers and is ranked in the top 4% of private clubs in the U.S. The club has been featured in Virginia Golfer magazine. The course is considered challenging with a variety of holes and is certainly beautiful. We are pleased to offer an opportunity to play on this legendary golf course to NAFUSA conference attendees.
Well-known Houston attorney Morton Susman passed away surrounded by loving family on January 21, 2025. He was 90. Following graduation from Southern Methodist University Law School he enlisted in the United States Navy and served in the Navy’s JAG Corps for three years of active duty. Following his military commitment he moved with his family to Houston, Texas. He began his career with the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney and later, in 1966, was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas by President Johnson. Susman, a former
NAFUSA member, had a long-distinguished career in private practice. He concluded his legal career as a senior partner at the New York law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges in 1997.
In retirement, Susman and his wife Nina traveled the world and spent much of his retirement years at their vacation home in Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona. He loved scuba diving, underwater photography and flying radio-controlled airplanes.
NAFUSA President Donna Bucella announced in Oklahoma City in September at the 2024 Annual Conference that NAFUSA’s Conference in 2025 will be held in Washington, D.C. at the historic Willard Hotel. Mark your calendars for October 8 -10, 2025! The unofficial start to the conference will be Wednesday morning, October 8 with golf for interested members at the Army Navy Country Club. Registration for golf AND the conference will not open until this summer, but we have already had sponsors coming forward to be a part of what is sure to be a great event. Keep reading your monthly newsletter for conference and sponsorship updates.
In what appears to be becoming an annual event, former United States Attorneys from the Northern District of Georgia met over lunch in Atlanta in January. Former U.S. Attorney and NAFUSA member Joe Whitley (1990-1993) gathered together six former U.S. Attorneys who served in that role in subsequent years. Rick Deane (1998-2001), Bill Duffy (2001-2004). David Nahmias (2004-2009), Bjay Pak (2017-2021) and Kurt Erskine (2021-2022) welcomed the latest member to their join their ranks – Ryan Buchanan (2022-2025). Ryan is also one of NAFUSA’s newest members, having joined
in January 2025.
Members of NAFUSA are always happy to welcome former U.S. Attorneys to join us.
Traditionally, the number of applications for membership rises when there is a change in
presidential administrations, as there is this year. Starting this month, we will publish the
names and districts of new members each month in the newsletter, and we will begin this month by listing new members starting from September 2024.
September 2024
Steven Weinhoeft – Southern District of Illinois 2018-2022
October 2024
Henry Leventis – Middle District of Tennessee 2022-2024. Lifetime Member
December 2024
Lane Tucker – District of Alaska 2022-2025
January 2024
Ryan Buchanan – Northern District of Georgia 2022-2025
Michael Norton – District of Colorado [a returning member!] 1988-1993
Peter Leary – Middle District of Georgia 2022-2025. Lifetime Member
Welcome to NAFUSA! We hope to see you in October at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., for NAFUSA’s 2025 Annual Conference.
Lifetime NAFUSA member Richard “Dick” Eagleton passed away on
November 23, 2024, at his home in Peoria, Illinois surrounded by his family.
He was 94. Dick served as the United States Attorney for the Central District
of Illinois during the Kennedy/Johnson Administration.
Dick graduated from Yale in 1952 where he was a member of ROTC. He
attended law school at the University of Illinois Law School after serving three
years of active duty in the Navy. He graduated law school in 1958 and
practiced law “taking whatever cases he could get” before being appointed
U.S. Attorney. He was proud to claim to be the only person to be appointed
U.S. Attorney from Peoria. He was elected 10th Circuit Judge in Illinois in 1970
where he presided for 20 years.
His years as a U.S. Attorney had a big impact on his life, and he enjoyed
exchanging stories about his experiences while in office. After retirement from
the bench, Dick, a third generation Eagleton to become a lawyer, spent time
carrying on his family’s tradition in the legal profession, becoming of counsel
to the Chicago based firm Hinshaw and Culbertson at its Peoria office. He
also enjoyed attending Cubs spring training and traveling with his wife, Joyce.
In fact, much of the traveling that Dick and his wife enjoyed during his
retirement years was to attend annual NAFUSA meetings throughout the
country. A longtime NAFUSA member, he greatly enjoyed visiting a different
location and socializing with younger NAFUSA members (most, if not all, were
younger than him) at the annual conferences. He was proud of the fact that he
was still attending the meetings and believed himself to be the only one
attending who dated back to the Kennedy/Johnson Administration of the
1960s. He was a familiar and welcome face at the annual conferences and
treasured his time there listening to “renowned speakers” and continuing
education programs. He was quoted as praising NAFUSA nonpartisanship
saying, “in a room full of lawyers … it’s hardly noticeable that politics are
involved, even though most have deep political roots.
In keeping with NAFUSA tradition, a flag was flown over the DOJ in his honor.
He will be greatly missed by his friends in NAFUSA.
Victor R. Ortega, former United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico
and founding member of NAFUSA, died after a short illness on May 17, 2024,
in Corrales, NM. He was 91.
Victor, whose grandfather was a signer of the New Mexico Constitution, was
born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He attended Harvard University on
scholarship, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in applied physics in
1954. After graduation he was employed as a systems engineer on the Navajo
Guided Missile project until he was drafted for service in the U.S. Army. While
in the Army he graduated from the U.S. Army Guided Missile School at Ft.
Bliss, TX. Following military service, Victor was awarded a scholarship and
attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1959. Following admission to the
New Mexico bar, he served as an Assistant District Attorney for the Second
Judicial District in Albuquerque until entering the private practice of law in
1961.
In 1969, Victor was appointed United States Attorney for the District of New
Mexico by President Richard Nixon. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and
served in that position under Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter until June
1978 when he returned to private practice with the law firm Montgomery and
Andrews in Santa Fe. While U.S. Attorney, Victor was appointed by Attorney
General Elliott Richardson to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory
Committee (AGAC) and remained on that committee from 1973 to 1978,
serving as chair his last year. He was largely responsible for ensuring that the
AGAC became a permanent part of the DOJ.
Victor for many years was the senior litigator with Montgomery and Andrews,
concentrating primarily on complex commercial litigation. He represented
Southern Union Company in the New Mexico Natural Gas antitrust litigation
and the telephone company US West in the Inside Wire antitrust litigation.
He was for many years an avid runner and cyclist and completed a cycling
tour across the United States in 2000 at the age of 67. He enjoyed cycling in
Europe and skiing, both cross country and alpine, and loved fly fishing.
He is survived by his wife, Carol and his children John V. Ortega of Boulder,
CO, daughter Annamarie Shunny of Steamboat Springs, CO and
granddaughter Daniel Ortega of Seattle, WA. A flag has been flown in his
honor over the DOJ.
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