37 O’Melveny & Myers LLP I omm.com In Memoriam MICHAEL HARBERS (CLASS OF 1969) Michael Harbers passed away on November 16, 2022, at the age of 82. Michael grew up in Pasadena, California and was a loving husband, father, and grandfather. He graduated with a degree in English from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota and then became a Supply Corps Officer in the US Navy. Following his stint in the Navy, he went to Stanford University School of Law. He then practiced law with O’Melveny for a few years before moving on to practicing law at International Multifoods Corp.; Genesco, Inc.; and Boult, Cummings, Connors & Berry LLP. Michael’s obituary can be found here. BOB ECCLES (CLASS OF 1972) O’Melveny Of Counsel Bob Eccles passed away on March 6, 2022, at the age of 74. Bob was an O’Melveny giant. He was the father of the firm’s ERISA practice and helped it become the national leader it is today. He was one of the nation’s top ERISA lawyers, trusted by his clients to guide them in this fast-moving, high-stakes area of the law. Bob was consistently ranked Band 1 by Chambers USA. for excellence in his practice. He joined the firm in 1988 after 15 years as an attorney for the federal government, including five years as a trial attorney for the Department of Justice and 10 years as an ERISA attorney at the Department of Labor. From 1982 to 1988, he was Associate Solicitor of Labor, one of the most senior legal positions in the department. As counsel for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, he was the government’s chief ERISA litigator. The leader of our Employee Benefits practice for many years, Bob advised a broad range of ERISA players, including employee benefit plans, plan sponsors, and service providers, with a focus on litigation. His roster of clients included US Trust, Fidelity, CIGNA, Humana, Ford, Verizon, and other prominent corporations, institutions, and individuals. Bob was an ERISA pioneer, trying the first ERISA case brought against a financial services provider for investing its employees’ retirement plans in so-called proprietary funds. Of course, he won that case for his client. As outstanding as he was as a lawyer— Chambers USA. named him a “senior statesman” for his life’s work—and as brilliant as he was as a thinker, he was humble, self-effacing, understated, and utterly without ego. He was an incredible courtroom lawyer, who paired a charming, soft-spoken manner with an intellectual intensity. When victories were won, all accomplishments were team accomplishments—the rare failures were his alone. Bob grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, where he graduated from West High School in 1965. His father was a professor of English and a Shakespearean scholar at the University of Wisconsin, and his mother was an editor of the University Press there. Bob attended Harvard undergrad and Harvard Law School, but he remained a diehard Wisconsin Badgers fan. Read more about Bob’s passing here and here.
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