Special Assistant to the late Judges Murdock and Kern. At my far left is the Honorable John Kern III, Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, who is our Judge Kern's son. At my immediate left is Special Trial Judge Caldwell.

Edward C. Radue was born in Washington, D.C., on December 8, 1910. He attended public schools in Washington, George Washington University, and Washington College of Law where he received his LL.B. and his LL.M. degrees. After he finished law school, he taught law part time at Washington College of Law. During 1936 and 1937, Mr. Radue served as law clerk to Chief Judge Martin of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In October 1937, he was appointed to the legal staff of the Board of Tax Appeals, now the Tax Court, and was assigned to Judge Van Fossan. In recognition of his ability, he received repeated promotions and in the early 1950's, became Special Assistant to the Chief Judge.

A Special Assistant has the task of reading all the proposed opinions of the Court and recommending to the Chief Judge, whether they be released or subjected to Court review. The objective, of course, is consistency and continuity and improvement of the quality of the opinions issued by the Court. The quality of those opinions determines, to a large extent, the effectiveness of the Tax Court in carrying out its mission. Mr. Radue gave his professional life to that cause. As a result of his work, I am convinced that the Tax Court is a better Court than it otherwise would be.

Ordinarily, one of the greatest compliments that can be paid to a lawyer is to refer to him as a lawyer's lawyer. But Mr. Radue held a unique position, he was a Judge's lawyer. Not only did he advise the Chief Judge on the issuance of proposed opinions, but he was also available to other Judges for advice and counsel. I came to the Tax Court in 1967, about five years before Mr. Radue retired. On numerous occasions, I went to see him and sat at his desk and discussed the difficult problems which I was facing. He always had ideas which were characterized by commonsense and based on a wealth of experience. I had infinite respect for him as a lawyer. But, more important, was the quality of the man. He was never too busy to be courteous and helpful, he was a gentleman in every sense of the word-respected and loved by his associates. His colleagues will be richer for the years he lived and worked with us. Our memories of him will enable us to continue to feel his presence.

The last of the Chief Judges with whom Mr. Radue worked was Judge Drennen, and I shall ask him at this time to say a few words.

JUDGE DRENNEN: As Judge Featherston has indicated, when I became Chief Judge of the Tax Court in 1967, I inherited Ed Radue from Chief Judges Turner, Kern, Murdock, and Tietjens. He was one of the best legacies I have ever received. Not only was he a great help to me as a newly elected Chief Judge, but also it was very comforting for me to know that he was there to back me up on one of the most important functions of a Chief Judge, that is, the reviewing of opinions. Of course, I had known Ed about ten years before I became Chief Judge and had consulted with him on numerous occasions about legal questions that arose in cases which I had tried. When I arrived in the office as a fledgling in the job, Ed suggested to me that he would be ready to move out of the adjoining office at any time that I had chosen my replacement for him. I told him to banish the thought; that if he was willing to stay and assist me, I had no intention of looking for a replacement.

Ed was truly valuable to a Chief Judge in reviewing opinions. As Judge Featherston said, the purpose in having a Chief Judge review all of the opinions of the other Judges is to coordinate the actions of the other Judges who are dealing with the same legal issues and to assure that the opinions issued by the Court are consistent, not only with those cases being currently considered, but also with all the cases that have been released by the Court in the past. Of course, we always hope that the attorneys for the parties will call to a Judge's attention all cases previously decided by the Tax Court dealing with the issues involved in their cases. Sometimes this doesn't happen and it could lead to an embarrassment for the Court. I think I can safely say that while Ed was Special Assistant to the Chief Judge, the Court did not issue any inconsistent opinions without acknowledging the inconsistency. Ed had such a keen intellect and remarkable memory that he could recognize that the position being taken in an opinion might be inconsistent with the position that had been taken by the Tax Court in a previously uncited case. I, as Chief Judge, did not have this capacity because, although I had read most of the opinions that had been released since I had been on the Court, by necessity I had to read them rather hurriedly; whereas Ed had read all of them very carefully and had a great

recall. Ed truly rendered a service to the Court, and to the Judges as well, in this capacity.

But Ed's services were not limited to assisting the Chief Judge and the other Judges in the Court. He was a mentor-the mentor of all of our law clerks. He helped to train many of them in many aspects of their jobs-research, writing, and probably on how to get along with their respective Judges. I believe most of the law clerks who were with the Court during Ed's tenure spent many worthwhile hours with Ed discussing legal problems confronting them and how best to arrive at the correct answers. I think Ed liked that phase of his work and he was always patient with the young lawyers and never abrupt. I might add that the same thing was true in his relationship with the Judges. I would guess that he saved many cases from going to conference by politely but artfully suggesting to the Judges who had submitted the opinions that the same result could be reached by taking a slightly different approach that would not run afoul of some prior position taken by the Court.

Ed was also a great person to have around the office. He was quiet, gentle, and always cheerful and pleasant. He got along well with the rest of the staff in the Chief Judge's office while I was there and also with all other people on the Court. I don't know too much about Ed's personal life, I'll leave that to Randy Caldwell who was a close personal friend. I do know, however, that he loved horses and had a great knowledge of horses. And even this saved me some embarrassment on one occasion that I remember. In an opinion I had written about a horse farm somewhere out in Ohio, I had said something about a gelding dropping a foal. That did not get by Ed. I was corrected to give the mare full credit for birthing her "progeny.'

When I became Chief Judge, I had several complex cases in my inventory that required time to write, and I had very little time and was short of law clerks. Ed Radue and Randy Caldwell volunteered to help me out and each of them took an important case to work on. Ed, who had first choice of the cases, probably made one of the few mistakes he made in his life in that he took the Western National Life Insurance Company case, which turned out to be one of the first cases involving the rather recently enacted income tax on life insurance companies (50 T.C. 285). Even Ed couldn't find Tax Court precedent for that very complicated issue. We struggled with that opinion throughout

my first year as Chief Judge and actually wrote two opinions. And, when we finally signed off, sure we were right, it was appealed and we were reversed. Furthermore, three additional Courts of Appeals subsequently adopted positions contrary to ours until finally, a more enlightened Appellate Court adopted our position and brought forth the conflict for the Supreme Court to decide. Very recently, the Supreme Court affirmed the position we had taken in our opinion, and I only wish that the Supreme Court opinion had been released in time for Ed to know about it and realize that our work had not been in vain.

In closing, I wish to reiterate, Ed Radue was a real scholar and a fine person. He gave me help when I needed it, and I will always appreciate that. I know former Chief Judges Turner and Tietjens will join me in these sentiments. Thank you.

CHIEF JUDGE FEATHERSTON: A Chief Judge whom we all honor and love, and whom I know Ed Radue honored and loved, Judge Tietjens.

JUDGE TIETJENS: I am both proud and sad to be here on this occasion. Proud to have been closely associated with Ed for six years, and proud of our careers. Sad that during his term of administering to the Court, he never was accorded full recognition for his contributions. I am glad to say I know he loved his family, the Court, and his friends. He had no enemies. God rest his soul.

CHIEF JUDGE FEATHERSTON: One of Ed Radue's closest personal friends at the Court is Special Trial Judge Caldwell.

SPECIAL TRIAL JUDGE CALDWELL: Judge Featherston, I am grateful that you have accorded me the opportunity to say a few words at these memorial services for my dear friend and colleague for almost twenty-five years, Ed Radue. Very early in my own career here at the Tax Court when I became associated with Judge Pierce as one of his law clerks, I came to recognize in Ed a lawyer of considerable knowledge and great skills. Now, you can find lawyers around this Court with those qualifications, I won't say a dime a dozen, but there are a lot of them. But Ed was more than that. He was a generous person ever ready to counsel and advise not only the Judges, but the law clerks too, even the greenest sort, as I was, when he was importuned to do so, as was not an infrequent occurrence in my own experience. And, he did so with unfailing patience and understanding. And then, when Judge Tietjens and the Court elevated me to fill, all

inadequately to be sure, the enormous shoes left empty by Howard Locke when he retired as the Clerk, I came to know another aspect of Ed's knowledge which he again unfailingly and generously shared with me. Questions not infrequently would arise where the answers lay not in the books of decisions and statutes and rulings and regulations and law review articles, but rather they lay in the tested experience of this Court, and as a perceptive participant in the life and work of this Court for more than a quarter of a century, Ed could and did relate that experience to me, and I was thereby enabled on not one but many occasions to solve a problem that was very perplexing. And later, in 1971 when Judge Drennen appointed me as a Commissioner of this Court, though my functions changed, Ed maintained his constant stance of counselor and adviser. When I would see Ed in my doorway a day or two after I had sent a report forward, I knew that I probably had goofed and Ed was there to bail me out before the goof became apparent to Judge Dawson, or Judge Sterrett, or Judge Drennen. And the bailout was always effected in that kind manner of Ed's that overcame the hurt to pride that otherwise I might have been made to feel. And here, let me say that the same approach is the hallmark of Dave Woolley, who succeeded Ed as the Special Assistant to the Chief Judge.

Of course, Ed's knowledge and experience were not the only attributes that endeared him to me. He was a very dear and valued friend who permitted me to share life with him and his family. Probably four days a week, he and I broke bread together at lunchtime with what I called the Tax Court establishment— Ed Radue, the late Commissioner Dean Davis, Mr. Schoenfelder, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Cantrel, and Mr. Keeter. These luncheons were always pleasant experiences. The food was not always great but the conversation was uplifting and entertaining. Ed was always the source of a good joke. He was one of the most masterful punsters that I have ever come across, a trait that endeared him to me, if not to everyone else. I was also permitted to share the Radue family's joys-Joanne's wedding, Peter's winning a blue ribbon at a horse show, and others—and their sorrows-the death of Ed's brother and Ed's own last illness. I am grateful to have had the enrichment of his and their friendship and association over the years.