By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

Associates recall Damon & Morey of counsel John Kirschner, who died Jan. 13 at age 80, as an avid mentor and supporter of students and young lawyers.

Timothy Cashmore, a partner at Damon & Morey, got to know Kirschner while both worked at another Buffalo law firm, Saperston & Day.

"He was certainly a mentor to me, and for many other attorneys who have come up through the ranks over the years," Cashmore said, noting that Kirschner would invite legal professionals such as Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark to speak to the firm's summer associates. "He made sure they were getting exposed to some of the premier people in our profession."

Kirschner also cared about the support staff, Cashmore said. "He was always very concerned that everyone was treated fairly and being brought along at the right pace," he said.

"(He believed) that the law was a very civil profession above all else," Cashmore said of Kirschner, who last year received the Bar Association of Erie County's Charles H. Dougherty Civility Award. "I think he exemplified that in the way he practiced law."

A 1951 graduate of Cornell University with a bachelor's degree in economics and 1953 graduate Cornell Law School, Kirschner was known to many as "Mr. Cornell."

"He followed all the alumni very carefully. He always knew what they were doing," said fellow Cornell alum Carol Heckman, a partner at Harter Secrest & Emery. "He was a great supporter of the university."

Another Cornell graduate, Hon. Jerry McCarthy, magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, noted that the annual Cornell Law lunch for area alumni that Kirschner organized was "always well-attended."

"He was just a great ambassador for the university," McCarthy said. "He was a great man for many reasons. He was just a real gentleman and someone I was very fond of."

A wake will be held at Amigone Funeral Home, 1132 Delaware Ave., from 2-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Friday. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Blessed Sacrament Church, 1035 Delaware Ave.