Seward & Kissel Founding Partner George Seward Dies at 101

(Updates with Seward’s ancestry in eighth paragraph.)

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- George Seward, the founding partner of law firm Seward & Kissel LLP and the honorary life president of the International Bar Association, has died. He was 101.

Seward died today at his home in Scarsdale, New York, the firm said in a statement.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of our mentor and friend George Seward,” John Tavss, the firm’s managing partner, said in the statement.

Seward was a business lawyer who served in leadership positions in the American Bar Association, according to the statement. He led the committee to develop a model corporation act, was chairman of the ABA’s section on business law and was a 14-year member of its governing body, the House of Delegates, the firm said. In the 1960s, on behalf of the ABA, he became involved with the London-based International Bar Association, helping to develop the individual member side of the organization, according to the firm.

In 1953, Seward became a partner at Meyer, Kidder, Matz & Kissel, the firm that would become Seward & Kissel. He was an active partner until December 1983 and had been senior counsel since then. He worked at the firm several days a week through the end of 2011, the firm said.

Unusual Education

George Chester Seward was born Aug. 4, 1910, in Omaha, Nebraska. He wrote of his unusual elementary education in his 1987 book “Seward and Related Families,” noting that he transferred frequently among schools in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Illinois and Indiana because of his father’s business, the firm said.

He graduated from the University of Virginia, where he received undergraduate and law degrees, according to the firm. He was a Phi Beta Kappa, Order of the Coif and a member of the university’s Raven Society, the firm said.

Seward was a distant relative of William H. Seward, President Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state, according to the firm.

Seward is survived by his two sons, Gordon and James, and two daughters, Patricia and Deborah, according to the statement. His wife of 54 years, Carroll, died in 1991, the firm said.

--Editors: Andrew Dunn, Glenn Holdcraft

To contact the reporter on this story: Sophia Pearson in Philadelphia at spearson3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net.