Wayne State University Law School, Wayne Law Dean Robert M. Ackerman, the Wayne Law Board of Visitors and the Wayne Law Alumni Association have announced that the 15th annual Treasure of Detroit will be hosted from 6-10 p.m. on Saturday, March 24, at Ford Field.
This year’s honorees are Professor Emerita Frederica K. Lombard, who is being honored posthumously with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Judge Claudia Morcom, George Peck and Ed Zelenak.
Since its inception in 1998, the Treasure of Detroit has been Wayne Law’s premier event for honoring those who have made a lasting contribution to the practice of law, as well as to the growth and success of the law school.
This year’s event will feature a cocktail reception and silent auction at 6 p.m., followed by dinner, an awards program and tours of Ford Field.
Lombard began teaching in 1966 at Wayne Law, where she met her future husband, Wayne County Judge Arthur Lombard.
She became a full professor in 1969, the first full-time female law faculty member at the university. She was named associate dean in 1992, a position she held for 13 years, and served as interim dean for one year.
Lombard is credited with having a major role in the Law School building expansion that began in the early 2000s.
Upon her retirement, a major scholarship fund was renamed the Lombard Scholarship Fund.
Retired Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Claudia House Morcom broke the gender barrier when she became the first African-American woman to work in an integrated law firm, joining the firm of Goodman, Crockett, Eden, Robb, and Philo in the early 1960s. A few years later, she went to Mississippi during the civil rights movement to fight injustice as the southern regional director of the National Lawyers Guild Committee for Legal Assistance from 1964-1965.
In 1966, she returned to her native Detroit and became director of the Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services program for the indigent. In 1983, she became a Wayne County Circuit Court judge, a position she held until retiring in 1998.
She recently established an annual Wayne Law scholarship.
George Peck has been a dedicated supporter of Wayne Law, particularly the library, since his graduation in 1980. He funded the George Peck Endowed Scholarship for Superior Advocacy in memory of his father, Dr. Theodore E. Peck.
As the managing director of George Peck and Associates PLC, Peck’s experience is concentrated in corporate and securities law as well as commercial litigation, labor, employment and immigration.
While in law school, Peck was a member of the Order of Barristers, a brief writer for the Wayne Moot Court National Team from 1979-80, and the founder and president of the Wayne International Law Society from 1978-80.
Ed Zelenak is a former president of the Law Alumni Association and currently serves on the Law School’s Board of Visitors.
A lifelong resident of Lincoln Park, Zelenak is the city attorney for the municipalities of Lincoln Park and Southgate. He has served as legal counsel to numerous other communities and governmental entities, as well as represented presidential candidates and other public officials in Michigan election law matters.
He is the recipient of the 2010 State Bar of Michigan Frank J. Kelley Distinguished Public Service Award.
For information on the Treasure of Detroit, contact Kathryn Koehler in the law school’s Office of Alumni Relations at 313-577-6199 or klkoehler@wayne.edu.
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