Samuel V. Schoonmaker III will probably be best remembered in Connecticut legal circles as a pioneering advocate of no-fault divorce. But those who knew him well say he was much more—an innovative law firm administrator, a generous mentor and a deft handler of high-profile matrimonial cases involving Fortune 500 executives such as former General Electric CEO Jack Welch.
The prominent Fairfield County attorney died April 23 in Naples, Florida, at 79. Schoonmaker’s colleagues recall him as a complex, nuanced man—gentlemanly, discreet and disciplined even in the rough-and-tumble world of matrimonial combat. In a 2013 interview, he told the Law Tribune how he cautioned the younger associates at his firm not to gossip about high-net-worth family law clients. “These people are just like other members of their community; they just happen to be well-known, so they don’t want to have their dirty linen aired in public,” Schoonmaker said.
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