by Cynthia Price
Legal News
To say that Bob Eleveld was one of a kind is an understatement.
The 80-year-old attorney, instigator of “cookie time,” inventor of the “nobit,” and contributor to the betterment of his community in so many ways, died March 19.
Though it was one of his final acts — publishing an obituary before his death as an invitation to a celebration of his life — that brought him national attention, Eleveld’s unique blend of professional excellence with quirky acts of love and caring had already earned him a special place in the Grand Rapids legal community.
“Everyone was Bob’s friend because he was a friend to everyone,” comments Joel Bair of McGarry Bair, the firm where Eleveld found a home in the last stages of his career. “He wanted it that way. I don’t recall ever hearing a cross word from Bob about anyone, even those who played or coached against his beloved East Grand Rapids and University of Michigan teams.”
“Hel-’LO’! This is Bob Eleveld. As I write this notice, I am still with you, although my doctors have informed me that this status will change in the near future...” began the wording of what his family members called a “nobit” in the Grand Rapid Press on March 14. After thanking his “loving partner” Michele McIsaac and others, and inviting friends and family to a celebration on March 18, Eleveld ended with, “Please know that the end of my life is the ultimate ‘peanut item’ in comparison to how much I have enjoyed my life with all of you.”
And the feeling was mutual. Over 300 people who had known Eleveld in all the aspects of his multifaceted life attended, while many others sent regrets because they could not attend. Though Eleveld himself was too ill to be there in person, family members shared people’s good wishes with him, both written and video. At his peaceful death that Sunday, 26 family members surrounded him.
In one video prepared by mLive, Intellectual Property attorney James Mitchell says, “I always think about the fact that our friends pass away and we never get the chance to tell them how important they were to us... It’s a real honor to have the opportunity to tell you how much you meant to me and how much your friendship meant to me all these years... You’ve just been a wonderful friend.”
“Everyone loved and respected him,” says Fred Boncher of Schenk Boncher and Ripma in the same video. “When I die I hope that they will put on my tombstone, ‘He was a good man.’ And that really sums up Bob. He was a good man.”
Eleveld was never afraid to combine business with the pleasure that results from sharing social time.
“One valuable legacy of Bob’s that will continue unabated is cookie time,” says Bair. “Every Wednesday at 10 a.m. is cookie time where we stop work for 15 minutes and enjoy cookies and milk with any friends who wish to join us.”
The original cookie time tradition started when Eleveld hung out his own shingle after 35 years at Varnum. Though he was a litigator first and foremost, Eleveld later decided to lend his skills to the IP boutique firm McGarry Bair, which a group of attorneys from Varnum started and which has now moved to new offices at Arena Place.
Educated at Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan School of Law, Eleveld had an impressive track record of success. He also was a mediator and arbitrator. “I’ve seen a wide variety of cases,” he told the Grand Rapids Legal News at the time of receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the West Michigan Justice Foundation last October.
But even more impressive, perhaps, was his dedication to a variety of community organizations, most notably St. Johns Place and Cherry Health. He joined other local attorneys to serve on the board of the League of Conservation Voters, and his latest passion was Emmanuel Hospice. Those who would like to honor Eleveld may send a gift in his name to that hospice at 2161 Leonard St. N.W., Grand Rapids 49504, “an outstanding group who provided extraordinary effort in his care and in making his wish of the Celebration of Life party come true,” according to his final obituary.
Eleveld was also a member of the Michigan Association for Justice, the International Association of Defense Counsel, and the Dartmouth Lawyers Association.
He found time for this despite having a large blended family of eight children, including the well-known author and journalist Kerry Eleveld, who wrote a book on the fight for LGBT rights entitled Don’t Tell Me to Wait.
About his family, who are scattered across the country from Seattle to Park City, Utah, to nearby Rockford, Bob Eleveld commented at the time of his Lifetime Achievement Award, “It’s a zoo.”
He also was a self-professed “political junkie,” running for the Michigan House of Representatives twice. In last November’s interview, he observed, “I was the Republic Party county chair, district chair, back when Ford was President. That was a nice time to be involved. But I’m less than enamored with the whole political scene right now, so I’m not in the middle of it anymore.”
In keeping with his sense that people skills are at the heart of being a lawyer, Eleveld had proposed teaching a class on listening skills at the WMU-Cooley Law School Grand Rapids Campus.
And it is his success at really listening to people and finding ways to make them feel their own worth that will live on.
“Bob was a treasured colleague and friend and we miss him dearly. He helped build the culture of McGarry Bair and the stories that we have are legion, from Santa visits to Cinco de Mayo,” noted Joel Bair. “...[H]is memory lives on and warms us all.”
As his final obituary suggests in lieu of a funeral: “In the spirit of Robert J. Eleveld, invite someone to lunch - enjoy their company and share a laugh.”
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