McCarter & English mourns the passing of our distinguished colleague, Joseph E. Bachelder. Mr. Bachelder's illustrious legal career spanned more than six decades during which he was a pioneer of the new field of, and was considered one of the nation's foremost authorities in, executive compensation. Joe possessed encyclopedia knowledge of and mastery over the myriad of laws that were in play in executive compensation matters including tax, pension, securities and  labor and employment. A brilliant strategic thinker and negotiator, Joe had an uncanny ability to quickly distill and evaluate complicated dynamic factual situations and devise novel solutions for his clients. A highly sought after trusted advisor, Joe was a zealous but always principled advocate for his clients, the list of which reads like a "whose who" of corporate America, including CEOs and senior executives, boards of directors and compensation committees of Fortune 500 companies, banks, investment banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions and investment managers of hedge and private equity fund complexes.

Mr. Bachelder was a superb draftsman and prolific author, including a regular column for the New York Law Journal for over 30 years. Joe was also a great teacher, generous mentor and friend to generations of attorneys.  Joe taught at leading academic institutions across the country including Columbia, Stanford, Northwestern and the Universities of Wisconsin and Delaware. He was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Program on Corporate Governance at his alma mater, Harvard Law School and was a lecturer at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.

Joe  was an incredibly devoted husband, father, grandfather and brother, enjoying time at his home in Princeton, New Jersey. We extend our deepest condolences to Joe's wife Louise Mason Bachelder, daughters Louise B. Alcock (Peter Alcock, son-in-law), Christina B. Dufresne (David Dufresne, son-in-law) and Hilary H. Bachelder, grandchildren Peter Alcock, Caroline A. Cunningham, Louise D. Serio and Mason Dufresne and siblings Jane B. Johnson and Stephan G. Bachelder.

Obituary provided by McCarter & English.