In Memoriam: James "Jim" Orlow, 1935-2018

Remembrance by William Stock.

Late last week, AILA lost another of its giants: Past President Jim Orlow died suddenly of a heart attack on August 23.

Even at age 82, Jim maintained an active practice, representing clients in immigration court and before the Service, and continuing to mentor new generations of AILA leaders. All of us in the Philadelphia Chapter have at least one “Jim story” of how he helped strategize an impossible case, taught an important lesson, or just encouraged us to keep up the fight against injustice.

Many of us did not know the details of his life outside of AILA. He served his country, entering the Navy after graduating Harvard Law and serving as a Judge Advocate, eventually rising to the rank of Captain. He was married to his wife, Eve, for just a few days short of fifty-seven years. His four children and fourteen grandchildren fondly remembered him teaching them to sail on the Chesapeake and joining him at his woodworking bench.

Jim’s roots in this Association were deep: he was President in 1974, like both of his parents before him. His father, Abram Orlow, was President in 1948 and his mother, Lena Ginsberg Orlow, was President in 1954. I was able to share with Eve that the lessons Jim taught by his example about how to be a lawyer, bar leader, colleague, and friend still animated this Association, even though it had grown far beyond what Jim imagined when he was President. The family asked that in lieu of flowers, mourners consider a donation to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of Southeastern Pennsylvania, 2100 Arch Street, Philadelphia PA 19103 or www.hiaspa.org.