Wednesday, January 9, 2002
Page 3
Retired Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher Partner Sherman Welpton Dead at 93
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Retired Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Sherman Seymour Welpton Jr. has died.
He was 93. He died Jan. 3.
Welpton, who headed the firm’s litigation department for many years, represented a wide array of clients including former Army Secretary D.K. Ludwig; Death Valley Scotty, a prospector who swindled and hustled his way into fame and ownership of Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley; and The Gospel Foundation, a non-profit organization deeded ownership of the castle by its actual owner Albert Johnson.
Welpton helped draft the Code of Professional Responsibility for the American Bar Association and the Code of Trial Conduct for the American College of Trial Lawyers.
He was a former president of the Stock Exchange Club and a member of the California Club, and the Phi Gamma Delta and Phil Delta Phi fraternities.
A lecturer at UC Berkeley, Welpton was awarded honorary doctor of laws degrees by Pepperdine University in 1977 and the University of Nebraska College of Law, his alma mater, in 1978. The Nebraska school also honored the trial lawyer by naming the Sherman Welpton Courtroom Complex after him. The complex includes a courtroom, jury room, conference room, and judge’s chambers as well as the offices of the College’s Civil Clinical Program.
Welpton received his undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska as well.
He is survived by two sons, Sherman S. Welpton III of Oakland and Dr. Douglas F. Welpton of Chestnut Hill, Mass.; daughter Virginia W. Ferguson of San Diego, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild. His wife of 67 years, Dorothy F. Welpton, died in 1999.
Services were held Monday at the Chapel of All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills. Internment was at Forrest Lawn in Hollywood Hills.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be sent to the Parish House Restoration Fund of All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills.
Copyright 2002, Metropolitan News Company