Marshall L. Small senior of counsel and former chair of Morrison & Foerster.

Marshall Small, former chair of Morrison & Foerster, died Dec. 8. He was 92.

Small began working at the California-based firm in 1954 and continued there until his death. A corporate and securities lawyer in San Francisco, Small first made partner in 1961. He went on to serve as managing partner from 1971 to 1976 and held the title of chairman from 1982 to 1984.

In 1996, he became the firm's first general counsel, a title he held until 2013, when he transitioned into a senior of counsel role.

Current Morrison & Foerster chairman Larren Nashelsky met Small when Nashlesky first joined the firm as a lateral hire in 1999. When the two first spoke, Nashlesky said, he felt the cultural bridge between firm's humble beginnings—22 attorneys when Small joined in 1954—to today, when Morrison & Foerster has more than 900 lawyers firmwide.

"It probably gets overplayed in today's day and age, but Marshall was truly a gentleman and a scholar," Nashlesky said.

Just days before Small passed, Nashlesky said, Small emailed the firm's CLE coordinator to ensure her that he, at 92 years old, had complied with California's CLE requirement for 2019.

"Marshall came from a world where you did the right things and you acted the right way because it was the right thing to do," Nashlesky said. "They don't make them like that anymore."

A Kansas City, Missouri, native, Small joined the Merchant Marines as a teen and saw active duty in the Korean War. For a decade, he served as a reporter for the American Law Institute's Corporate Governance Project and was a member of the business law section of the American Bar Association. In 2002, the State Bar of California honored Small with its business law section Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is survived by his brother, Maynard Small; son Daniel Small and his wife Justine; daughter Liz Small and her husband Daniel Oreskes; and grandson Alexander Oreskes.