COVID kills two partners at Gunster law firm in West Palm Beach
During a recent two-month period, two partners at the venerable Gunster law firm in West Palm Beach have died from the coronavirus, stunning the legal and charitable communities and prompting a wave of fresh grief for the pandemic-weary county.
In November, the disease claimed the life of Edward Tancer, 59, a partner at the West Palm Beach-based firm and the former general counsel at Florida Power & Light.
Then in January, former managing partner Donald Beuttenmuller, Jr., 73, who battled the virus for nearly two months, succumbed to COVID-19.
Current and former colleagues atGunster, the oldest law firm in Palm Beach County, have been shocked by the loss of the longtime partners. So, too, have officials and donors at the charities that had close relationships with the men.
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“It’s really brought home the reality of the pandemic in a terribly harsh way for us,” said H. William Perry, Gunster’s managing partner.
But out of loss, there is gain for the future.
The deaths have galvanized the community into acts of remembrance, not just for the lawyers’ legal prowess but for their character traits of kindness, loyalty and service.
Scholarships established in their name, one at the University of Florida for Tancer and the other at Cardinal Newman High School for Beuttenmuller, have attracted thousands of dollars to date. And the donations keep pouring in, prompting awe and a measure of comfort to those who knew them.
In a way, the loss of the two leading attorneys has served as a collective center of mourning by business and community leaders who know the coronavirus is no respecter of persons. In Palm Beach County alone, more than 2,200 people have died from the disease.
It’s also been a way to draw them closer together in common cause during an era of social distancing and in which most of those working for the law firm are doing so remotely.
Gunster was established not long after the 1918 pandemic
Gunster is a key institution in the county’s history, established just a few years after the 1918 pandemic. The firm was founded in 1925 in West Palm Beach, which remains its headquarters even as the firm has grown to 11 offices statewide. Unlike other Florida-based firms that began in the state and grew nationwide, Gunster has remained committed to its Florida-only status.
That hyper-local approach has helped embed Gunster as part of the fabric of the community. It also has led many Gunster lawyers to stay with the firm for years, even decades.
“There are a lot of us who have spent most of our careers, if not all of our careers, here,” said Michael Mitrione, a Gunster partner who started working at the firm in 1979, a couple of years before Beuttenmuller joined.
Both Tancer and Beuttenmuller were what Perry called “hometown heroes,” West Palm Beach natives who returned to the county to work, raise their families and serve their communities.
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Margie Betten, Beuttenmuller’s daughter, recalls her father’s pride at being a student athlete at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach and a member of the school’s first freshman class. Not only did Beuttenmuller play football, he also served as class president all four years and was a competitive swimmer, too.
Beuttenmuller continued to swim his entire life, up until the moment when, in late November, he emerged from his daily, one-hour swim and said, “I don’t feel well,” Betten said.
A scholarship at Cardinal Newman established in his honor has attracted thousands of dollars in donations. Personal letters from strangers they never knew, even childhood friends of Buettenmuller, also have poured in, the family said.
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“He would find the outpouring ironic because Dad was so humble, and he never talked about his accomplishments or cases he won. He was not a boastful person,” Betten said. “Dad would have been embarrassed by all these accolades, but he deserves them.”
Betten said her father was ahead of his time, both in his work-life balance between his family and the firm and in his efforts to advance the careers of female attorneys.
Loyalty was another character trait repeatedly mentioned in connection with Beuttenmuller. Former Gunster partner Harvey Oyer, now a partner at Shutts & Bowen, vividly remembers one interaction with his former boss.
It was just after the 9/11 attack, and Oyer, then in the Marine Corps inactive reserve, received paperwork warning him he soon could be called for active duty.
Oyer had just a purchased a house, and he was worried about paying his mortgage with only his Marine Corps captain’s pay.
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“And then here comes Don, who doesn’t know me from Adam because I’m a lowly, third-year associate, and he said, ‘I want you to know we are proud of your service to your country and I don’t want you to worry about money,'” Oyer recalled.
Oyer said Beuttenmuller pledged to pay him the difference between his Marine Corps pay and his Gunster pay for as long as he was deployed.
Although Oyer ended up not being called for active duty, he said he never forgot Beuttenmuller’s kindness and loyalty.
As for Tancer, his loss was a shock to the many non-profits he served and the many more people he helped in ways large and small throughout his life.
Tancer was so adept at getting people to write checks or volunteer with charities that his name became a verb: “Tancered,” i.e., to donate time or money to a good cause after a visit with the affable lawyer.
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“When Ed would call you to have breakfast or lunch, you’d wind up on a board or a committee,” said Dave DeMay, senior vice president of Kast Construction. “He was a guy in the community that everybody loved.”
Tancer helped people with jobs and was involved in numerous charities
Tancer was involved in numerous charities, including the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County, Quantum House, Place of Hope and the Lord’s Place. He also supported Bella’s Angels, which provides financial help to children with lifelong physical disabilities.
Leaders from several of these non-profits contributed moving remembrances to a Facebook video honoring his acts of service.
In addition to his non-profit work, Tancer also was keen to help people with job searches, often by making introductions, Mitrione said.
His widow, Susan Tancer, said this habit became a secret joke between them.
“Ed would come home from work and I’d say, ‘What did you do for lunch today?’ ” she said. “He’d smile, and I would know he had had lunch with someone’s child who was either looking for a job, or a child who didn’t know what they wanted to do and wanted a career change. He was this connector. He loved it. It was who he was.”
Tancer’s memorial service, held in the parking lot at FPL’s Juno Beach headquarters, not only attracted a socially-distanced crowd but also more than 500 people who watched the service online.
Tancer said she’s still sifting through notes she has received from people, “half of whom I don’t know, including one from a girl he grew up with and he was so kind to.”
A UF scholarship in Tancer’s name has amassed over $131K
A scholarship in Ed Tancer’s name established at the University of Florida, where he earned both his bachelor’s degree and his law degree, already has amassed in excess of $131,000. It will be awarded to a student based on their good works and volunteer efforts, Tancer said
The scholarships established in the names of both Beuttenmuller and Tancer not only are a way to channel the community’s collective grief, firm lawyers said.
They also will serve as lasting reminders of the character traits the men embodied. “They both are looking down on us to continue their legacy,” Mitrione said.
