Dick Esbenshade, 1929-2021

Dick Esbenshade, a corporate lawyer who helped to found Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP and was instrumental in creating and maintaining the firm's family centered culture, died Sept. 14 at his Pasadena home. He was 92.

"His contribution went far beyond his commitment to legal excellence and clients. He helped shape an essential part of our culture, including especially our emphasis on family, our own as well as the law firm family. It was for that reason we dedicated our child care center to him and his wife, Nancy," name partner Ron Olson said in a statement.

Firm Chair Brad D. Brian called Esbenshade a "kind of a glue at the firm, somebody that everybody liked and always brought out the best in people. He was so open and generous with his time and thoughts."

"A group of us used to go out for early morning bike rides at 5:30 a.m. for about 25 miles every Sunday morning," Brian recalled. "He was quite an athlete. He was the pitcher on our softball team, a tennis player and golfer. He had a wonderful, terrific family. He truly was a special person."

His son, Andrew Esbenshade, a partner at Durie Tangri, said his father stressed the importance of family and maintaining work-life balance.

"One thing I took from my dad was the importance of finding a place where you enjoyed your colleagues, enjoyed what you were doing and making a long-term home at the place you're working," Andrew said. "Having that sense of family as much as possible in his work, I think, was what kept him at Munger, Tolles & Olson for approximately 50 years."

Born March 19, 1929 in Ashland, Ohio, Richard D. Esbenshade was the eldest of four children of Abram and Thelma Esbenshade. He graduated from Ashland High School and attended Stanford University on a scholarship from the Pepsi-Cola Co. Esbenshade received his undergraduate degree in economics and was a member of the university's wrestling team. He served in the U.S. Army before attending Harvard Law School on the G.I. Bill, serving as editor of Harvard Law Review. During his time in Boston, he met his wife, Nancy, who was studying at the Simmons College School of Social Work.

Esbenshade graduated from Harvard Law magna cum laude in 1956. He went to Europe on a Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship and spent time in Austria helping Hungarian refugees affected by the 1956 revolution. He also traveled to Istanbul, where he proposed to his wife. The couple returned to Nancy's hometown of Lima, Ohio, to get married and then moved to Los Angeles to start a family.

Before helping launch a firm then known as Munger, Tolles & Hills in 1962, Esbenshade practiced law at Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP. He specialized in transactional work but later in his career shifted his focus to trusts and estates.

"Dick led the firm's estate planning and trusts and estates practice for many years and represented many very prominent people in Los Angeles," said Robert Johnson, senior counsel at Munger Tolles. "He always stressed the importance of family, and was a mentor and good friend with a wry sense of humor."

The Esbenshades returned to Europe in 1970 with their four children. They spent half a nine-month sabbatical in the lakeside town of Spiez, Switzerland, and then traveled the continent in a Volkswagen bus.

Throughout his life, Esbenshade championed children and especially their athletic endeavors. He was careful to spend time with each of his 11 grandchildren, attending their sporting events and skiing, playing tennis and golfing with them.

"He really cared about families and the children of new young lawyers," said Alan V. Friedman, a retired Munger Tolles partner who is now a neutral at Signature Resolution. "He demonstrated the most humility for someone who was so accomplished, but you wouldn't know of them because he never broadcast them."

In 2012, at 83, Esbenshade retired from Munger Tolles and spent time traveling. Before he died, he had visited all seven continents. During the last few years of his life, Esbenshade moved to MonteCedro Retirement Community in Altadena with Nancy. The pandemic prompted them to return to their home of 50 years on Arroyo Boulevard.

Esbenshade is survived by Nancy, to whom he was married for 63 years, his children Richard, Jill, Anne and Andrew (Andy), and their partners; his sisters Joyce and Ruth, 11 grandchildren and 12 nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his daughter Lee and his sister Anita.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made in Esbenshade's honor to the Pasadena Educational Foundation or other educational nonprofits.