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BERNARD OLTER DOW, beloved husband, father and brother, passed away at home surrounded by his family on
December 26, 2004, after a courageous and valiant year-long battle with brain cancer.
Bernie, as he was known by his loving family and many friends and colleagues, was born on August 20, 1932,
to Lily and Harry Dow in Houston, Texas. He graduated with honors from San Jacinto High School in 1950. While
a junior at San Jacinto, Bernie and his debate partner won the Houston Interscholastic League Debate Tournament.
In 1948, Bernie won first place in the national B'nai Brith AZA Sermon Contest. His award-winning speech
was entitled "The Responsibility of American Jewish Youth."
Bernie graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with honors from the University of Texas in 1954. While an
undergraduate at UT, he was a member of the Silver Spurs and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. In 1956, Bernie
graduated from the University of Texas Law School. He was very proud of the fact that his father, Harry Dow,
whose family left Czarist Russia in 1903, had also attended UT Law School.
After graduating from UT Law School, Bernie received a direct commission as a Second Lieutenant in the
United States Air Force. From 1956 to 1959, he served as an instructor of military law at the University
of Air Command at Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
In 1959, Bernie began practicing law with his father, his older brother Melvin and his friend Ed Cogburn.
A few years later, his brother-in-law, Abe Friedman, joined the firm in what later became the firm of Dow,
Cogburn and Friedman, P.C. In April 2003, Bernie became Senior Counsel to the law firm of Dow Golub Berg
& Beverly LLP, where he enjoyed practicing law with his son Sanford.
Bernie was a leading and well-recognized authority in real estate law. He dedicated himself not only to
his loyal clients, but also to the Bar, through his tireless efforts in chairing, writing for and conducting
numerous Continuing Legal Education programs, such as the State Bar of Texas' Advanced Real Estate Law Course,
the University of Texas Law School's Mortgage Lending Institute and Southern Methodist University's seminars
on Mortgages in Depth and Leases in Depth. Many of his articles have become the standard source on their
specific topic.
Bernie was Board Certified in Commercial Real Estate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in
1983, the first year the certification examination was given, and he chaired the Board's exam commission
for real estate law. He chaired the Houston Bar Association Real Estate Law Section and was a member of the
American College of Real Estate Lawyers, the College of the State Bar of Texas Real Estate, Probate and Trust
Law Section, the College of the State Bar of Texas and the Houston Real Estate Lawyers Council.
In 1994, the College of the State Bar of Texas honored Bernie as its first recipient of the annual Award
for Texas Lawyer Professionalism.
In 1998, Bernie was elected to the prestigious American Law Institute, an organization whose membership
constitutes less than one-half of one percent of all American lawyers.
Bernie was the first attorney to receive the Annual Award for Texas Lawyer Lifetime Achievement in
Real Estate Law, presented in 2000 by the State Bar of Texas Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section.
In 2002, the Texas Lawyer selected Bernie as one of the top five real estate lawyers in Texas
in its Texas Lawyer Go-To Guide.
In 2003 and 2004, Texas Monthly named Bernie to its list of Texas Super Lawyers, a selection
based on peer nominations made by attorneys from across the state. Bernie was also recognized as one of the
"Top 100 Houston Region Super Lawyers." He was listed in the Best Lawyers in America,
every year since the inception of the publication.
In February 2004, Bernie's long and illustrious legal career was recognized when he was honored with the University of Texas School of Law Lifetime Achievement Award.
The University of Texas School of Law also honored Bernie by announcing that, beginning in 2005, its continuing
legal education seminar on real estate leasing would be known as the "Bernard
O. Dow Leasing Institute."
Bernie was a member of Congregation Beth Yeshurun, where he was a member of the Senior Advisory Board and
served as Chair of the Congregation's Legal Committee for over twenty years.
Bernie's professional accomplishments and dedicated service to his profession and community were exceeded
only by his universally recognized kind heart and genteel approach to all with whom he came into contact.
He was a person of consummate integrity, and he served as a role model and mentor to many people. He loved
his family dearly, and his family loved and respected him very much. He maintained and cherished lifelong
friendships, some dating from elementary school. He also enjoyed close relationships with his many cousins,
extended family and professional colleagues. Bernie will be dearly missed by all those who knew him.
Bernie is survived by his loving wife and companion of 42 years, Helen Dow; his loving and adoring children,
Karen Dow, Sanford Dow, and Drs. Douglas and Tracy Dow; his brother and sister-in-law Melvin and Frieda Dow;
his sister and brother-in-law Fran and Abe Friedman; his brother-in-law and sister-in-law Dr. Herbert Leiman
and Dr. Roberta Simon; and his aunts Sarah Danziger, Marcia Parker and Pearl Rose. He was preceded in death
by his parents Lily and Harry Dow.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Harry Dow Memorial Scholarship Fund at the University of Texas
School of Law, 727 East Dean Keeton Street, Austin, Texas 78705; Congregation Beth Yeshurun, 4525 Beechnut,
Houston, Texas 77096; the Dr. Marnie Rose Foundation for Brain Cancer Research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,
5090 Richmond Ave., PMB-291, Houston, Texas 77056; or the charity of choice.
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