Thad Grundy, who was one of the statesmen in Houston’s business bankruptcy bar for many years, died on Wednesday in Houston at the age of 84.
Thad was a member of the same extraordinary generation of men as my late father. He was born and raised in Galveston, and then — like many men in that generation — graduated from college and law schoool (The University of Texas) just in time to enter the Navy in World War II. From 1942 until 1945, Thad served in the United States Naval Reserve as a commanding officer of PT boats in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Philippines. He went on to serve with distinction and was awarded several medals, including the Silver Star. Despite his disintinguished service for his country, Thad was a humble man and never mentioned his military record to me in the 25 years that we knew each other.
When Thad returned to Houston after the war and he joined Fulbright & Jaworski (then known as Fulbright, Crooker, Freeman and Bates). Then, in 1957, he became a founding partner in the medium-sized downtown Houston firm Hutcheson and Grundy, where he practiced for over 30 years until that firm dissolved in early 1998. For several years after that, Thad continued practicing in an of counsel role at Locke Liddell & Sapp in Houston.
Thad was a fine lawyer in many areas, but his real forte’ was business bankruptcy. Along with Mickey Sheinfeld, the late Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Moeller, and several others, Thad was one of the leaders of the early Houston business bankruptcy bar, which over the years has grown into a formidable force on the national scene. Thad was always a gentleman and a mentor to any young attorney who sought his insight into the myriad of complex issues that arise in business reorganization litigation.
I met Thad in the first big corporate reorganization case that I worked on after law school. He represented the largest group of bondholders and I represented the largest unsecured creditor in the case. The case did not go well for Thad and his clients, but my lasting memory of Thad from that case is the classy and professional way that he handled the adversity of that case. In many ways, that has been a more valuable lesson for me than any creative legal strategy that I have learned over the years.
A memorial service for Thad will be held at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church (sometimes referred to by Houstonians as former “President Bush’s Church”), 717 Sage Road, at 11 a.m. today. If you are not able to make it, say a prayer for this good and honorable man who will be sorely missed by the Houston legal community.