By Tom Kirvan
Legal News
Longtime Butzel Long attorney Michael Lavoie, a man who devoted his life to good works at home and abroad, died unexpectedly in the early morning hours of Thursday, Oct. 13 after suffering a massive heart attack.
Lavoie was 63.
His death, which came within hours of a weekly doubles tennis match in Birmingham with a close group of friends, sent shock waves through the metro Detroit legal community in which the Pontiac native was beloved.
“All who had the good fortune to know Mike knew him as a special person who was deeply committed to the welfare of others less fortunate than himself,” said former U.S. Attorney Alan Gershel, the grievance administrator for the state Attorney Grievance Commission.
Gershel said LaVoie?“served as a mentor to many a young man needing guidance.”
“For many years, long after Mike completed his service with the Peace Corps where he dug wells, Mike remained devoted to the people of Burkina Faso (in West Africa),” Gershel said.
“There also was another side of Mike,” he added. “No one could light up a room with his humor and turn-of-a-phrase the way he could. His happiness was
infectious especially when he was playing golf with his friends. All who had the good fortune to have been in his orbit are better for it. I, for one, feel a hole in my heart. Fight True, my friend. You are going to be missed more than words could describe.”
The “Fight True” reference can be traced to the name Lavoie attached to a regular Friday after-work golf gathering of many of his longtime friends in the legal community. “Fight True,” but always be “true to the fight,” he explained to those welcomed into the golf group.
Among those who admired Lavoie’s commitment to the concept of “service above self” is U.S. District Judge David Lawson, a fellow University of Notre Dame alum.
“Mike was a lover of life and a very loyal friend,” said Judge Lawson. “When you were in his orbit, the gravitational pull was such that he never let you out as a friend.”
Lawson was among those who were on hand in the fall of 2010 when Lavoie was honored with the Leon Hubbard Community Service Award, a coveted honor presented annually by the Oakland County Bar Association.
In fact, Lawson nominated Lavoie for the award, writing that, “He has founded and promoted organizations whose missions are to promote diversity and economic advancement and opportunities throughout Pontiac and the world. He is a mentor, a counselor, and a genuinely caring person. His life’s mission is to see that others thrive. And he has remained true to the fight.”
For Lavoie, who earned his law degree from the University of Detroit in 1980, the award was just the latest in a series of honors he received on the state and county bar levels.
In 2007, he was presented with the Frances R. Avadenka Memorial Award from the OCBA, while a year later he received the State Bar of Michigan “Champion of Justice Award.”
A twin, Lavoie grew up in Pontiac, one of six children. He was the proud father of two daughters, Katie and Melissa, a teacher and medical school student, respectively.
His late father was a veteran of World War II and served as a supervisor at GM before retiring.
His mother was a member of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II despite suffering from a spinal cancer that eventually would render her a paraplegic before her death in 1987.
Upon his college graduation, Lavoie joined the Peace Corps, spending two years in Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in West Africa that is heavily dependent on agricultural production to fuel its economy.
Lavoie, with only two weeks of technical training, was charged with directing a well-digging effort in several remote villages where water was as scarce as hope for a better life among villagers.
The experience there was a “game-changer” for him, as Lavoie remained committed throughout his legal career to strengthening bonds between the U.S. and Burkina Faso as well as improving the lives of those he befriended during his many trips to Africa.
Ironically, Lavoie and his wife, Kristin, a middle school teacher in Pontiac, were scheduled in November to journey to Burkina Faso on another goodwill mission.
By chance, the couple was in the country last fall when an aborted coup took place, returning to the U.S. unharmed after more than a week of violence erupted in the military takeover attempt.
Lavoie’s community service work resonated perhaps the most in the hard-hit city of Pontiac. There, he relished his role as a mentor through the Pontiac Alumni Foundation.
His efforts began nearly a decade ago at the middle school level when “he met weekly with 26 at-risk students, none of whom were expected to reach high school” because of the challenges they faced daily at home and in their academic surroundings.
“Mike, bless his heart, was someone you could count on to go to great lengths to help those that he mentored,” said retired Oakland County Circuit Judge Fred Mester, founder of the Pontiac Alumni Foundation, the nonprofit organization that supports mentoring efforts in Pontiac schools.
In some cases, Mester said, Lavoie “was there 24/7 for them, keeping them out of harm’s way, while also providing whatever support he could offer to get them on a productive track.”
“He was always willing to invest his time for the good of others,” Mester said. “What a great legacy for him to leave.”
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