Kramer Levin Founder Passes

Louis Lowenstein passed away on April 18 of pancreatic cancer at 83. He was one of the founders of the firm now known as Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel. He got his undergraduate degree from Columbia in ‘47 and his law degree in ‘53. He returned to the school in 1980 as a professor.

The firm’s memoriam:

We mourn the death of the firm’s co-founder Louis Lowenstein, who practiced law with us from 1968 until 1978 when the firm was known as Kramer Lowenstein Nessen & Kamin. As a young man of 43 with energy and noble ambition, Lou led a group of departing lawyers from Hays, Sklar & Hertzberg to join Kramer, Nessen & Hochman in forming an upstart firm that was guided by a vision: creating an egalitarian, first class group of lawyers that would compete with the major firms of the day. Forty-one years later, the firm is one of the country’s largest first-tier law firms. Lou was a brilliant legal strategist, deep thinker and a consummate professional who created and led the firm’s corporate department and provided sage advice to diverse clients. Lou left private practice to accept the challenge of running a NYSE company and thereafter joined the faculty at Columbia Law School, from which he had graduated after serving as editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review. As an academic, Lou used his business saavy and practical experience to write and lecture on corporate governance, markets and finance; to direct the law school’s institutional investor project; and to teach students as the Simon H. Rifkind professor emeritus of finance and law. Lou generously dedicated his extraordinary talents to a variety of philanthropic efforts, including unstinting service on behalf of the Coalition for the Homeless. He was a noble character and inspirational figure whose legacy continues to guide our law firm.

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