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The Section lost one of the most esteemed tax lawyers of our age with the passing of our friend Bernie Aidinoff. Bernie was born in Newport, Rhode Island, February 2, 1929, and died peacefully at home on August 8, 2016. His academic credentials were sterling: University of Michigan, Phi Beta Kappa; Harvard Law School, magna cum laude and editor of the Harvard Law Review; 1st Lt. Army JAG; clerk to Judge Learned Hand. His law practice followed suit. His career was devoted to the storied law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, commencing under the tutelage of Arthur Dean, rising to senior leadership of the firm. That alone would speak the proverbial volume.
Awards and honors found their way to Bernie as through a personal force of attraction principle. The Section's Distinguished Service Award was bestowed in 2003- He received the John Minor Wisdom award for his participation in the American Law Institute. He served as Chair of the 1RS Commissioner's Advisory Group; Chair of the Executive Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York; Chair of the blue-ribbon ABA Commission on Taxpayer Compliance.
But it is what Bernie Aidinoff meant to the Tax Section that particularly motivates this tribute and merits our lasting memorialization. He gave direction to our ship, laying the foundations for what the Section has become, vastly more than a professional trade organization, in many ways the steward of our Nation's lifeblood, its tax system, and one of America's finest public...