Oregon Area Jewish Committee announces Brian Booth as 2008 Achievement Award recipient

By JEWISH REVIEW

article created on: 2008-10-15T00:00:00

On Nov. 5, the Oregon Area Jewish Committee will present its prestigious Judge Learned Hand Lifetime Achievement Award to Brian Booth of Tonkon Torp LLP. 

Past recipients of this award include David Frohnmayer, Don Marmaduke, Barrie Herbold, Jacob Tanzer and Barnes H. Ellis.  

A Special Recognition Award will be presented to Lisa Kaner of Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf PC.  

The awards will be given at a luncheon event on Wednesday, Nov. 5 from 11:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Benson Hotel (309 SW Broadway). Sponsorship levels begin at $950, which includes a full table of 10 and other benefits. Single tickets are $75. For sponsorship and ticket information call the OAJC office at 503-295-6761 or email info@oajconline.org.

Brian Booth is one of the seven founding partners of Tonkon Torp LLP and was formerly a partner in Stoel Rives LLP.  His legal practice emphasizes corporate matters for private and public companies, investors and nonprofit organizations.  He also represents members of Portland’s creative community. 

Booth’s Oregon State Bar activities include serving as chair of the Oregon Securities Law Association, the Securities Section, the Public Information Committee, the Joint Committee with Press and Broadcasting and performing at Tent Shows.  He received the Bar’s Public Service award in 1999 and the James B. Castle Leadership Award for 2000.

Booth is a frequent speaker on topics that include corporate and legal matters, Oregon parks and special places, the arts, Oregon history and obscure literary figures. He also occasionally serves as an irreverent emcee for public gatherings. He edited Wildmen, Wobblies and Whistlepunks:  Stewart Holbrook’s Lowbrow Northwest, which was chosen by Portland Magazine as “One of the 20 Greatest Oregon Books Ever.”

Booth headed the boards of the Oregon Parks Commission; Literary Arts Inc.; Portland Art Museum; Oregon Health and Science University Foundation; and University of Oregon Art Museum. As first chair of the Oregon Parks Commission, he led efforts to obtain adequate funding to keep the beaches public and save and expand Oregon’s parks system. In 1998, he co-sponsored and actively worked for the passage of Measure 66, which provides stable funding for parks, beaches and salmon recovery.

Brian founded Literary Arts in 1986. As its president, he created the Oregon Book Awards and the Oregon Literary Fellowships. He co-founded the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, which celebrates Oregon’s diverse literary and cultural legacy through public events, memorials and publications. Author and historian Terence O’Donnell said “Booth has probably done more for Oregon writers than anyone in the state’s history.  He is Oregon’s preeminent Man of the Book.”

A native of Roseburg, Brian is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Oregon (1958).  After serving as a US Infantry officer, he obtained his law degree from Stanford Law School (1962). 

Brian is married to Gwyneth Gamble Booth and is the father of two, the step-father of four, and the grandfather of eight. Brian and Gwyneth were named First Citizens of Portland for 1998. Brian has said he feels privileged to have worked closely in his career with the late Moe Tonkon, Frederick Torp and Tom Stoel—three of Oregon’s leading lawyers and citizens. 

Lisa Kaner’s practice areas include securities litigation, complex contract disputes, business fraud, insurance coverage and employment. Over the past decade, Kaner has obtained multi-million dollar judgments and settlements, and defeated like-size claims. She is immediate past president of the Owen M. Panner Inns of Court, and has been a board member of the U. S. District Court Historical Society.

Kaner served as chair and legal counsel for the Oregon Holocaust Memorial Coalition, guiding the memorial through a heated six-year legal battle. She served for 12 years as a board member and officer for the Oregon Chapter of AJC. Lisa co-chaired the Portland exhibition of Anne Frank: A History for Today, which was visited by more than 60,000 people in 2002. She is the mother of Jordan (14) and Zoe (12).

Event chairs include OAJC President Allan R. Abravanel of Perkins Coie LLP, Henry Hewittt of Stoel Rives LLP, and Peter H. Koehler of Nike, Inc.

The Oregon Area Jewish Committee is an independent affiliate of the American Jewish Committee.

OAJC has been a presence in Portland for more than 28 years, building bridges and coalitions between the Jewish community in the Portland region and various religious and ethnic groups. OAJC works to: protect the civil and religious rights of all; insure Israel’s security; advance efforts to protect human rights and human dignity; combat anti-Semitism; reduce intergroup tensions; promote Jewish values in discussions of public policy; and enrich the quality of Jewish life.