Renowned attorney Max Nathan, Jr., 86, is laid to rest
MAX NATHAN, JR., a prominent attorney considered as having possessed one of the most brilliant of New Orleans’ legal minds, passed away after a long illness surrounded by his family members and at his home on Sunday, August 22, 2021. He was 86.
MAX NATHAN, JR.
In addition to being a founding senior partner of the law firm Sessions, Fishman, Nathan and Israel, he specialized in estate planning and trust law and also taught at the Tulane School of Law for more than 50 years.
Nathan was a highly regarded member of both the New Orleans Bar Association and the Louisiana Bar Association and in 2019 was recognized with the President’s Award from the Louisiana Bar Association. He was named as a member of the inaugural class of the Tulane Law School Hall of Fame.
He was als0 a trusted and respected figure in the Jewish community having served as the first president of the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial Committee, the president of Temple Sinai and being named a recipient of the A. I. Botnick Torch of Liberty Award from the South Central Region of the Anti-Defamation League. He also was a major supporter of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, Jewish Family Service, the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana and Touro Infirmary.
A Shakespearean scholar, Nathan helped found the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane University and was a longtime member of its board. Apart from his successful career, Mr. Nathan was an avid reader with a particular interest in history. He enjoyed swimming in his pool, riding his bike, attending the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra concerts and the New Orleans Opera Association performances as well as drinking a well-made martini.
Born in Shreveport, Nathan was as a graduate of Byrd High School. He attended Northwestern University and matriculated to the Yale School of Law, where he attended for two years. Wanting to return to Louisiana and learn more about its unique legal practice of the Napoleonic Code, he transferred to the Tulane School of Law for his final year and graduated with honors in 1960, also having been named to the Order of the Coif and the Tulane Law Review.
Nathan was preceded in death by his wife of 28 years, Dotty Gold Nathan, for whom he established an annual lecture promoted by the Jewish Endowment Foundation.
He is survived by his four daughters, Nancy Nathan, Kathryn Nathan, Marcy Nathan and Courtney Nathan (Michael Singer) and four grandchildren.
A memorial service was held for invitees only on August 26, 2021 at the main sanctuary of Temple Sinai. The service officiated by Rabbi Daniel Sherman and Emeritus Rabbi Ed Paul Cohn was live streamed over Zoom and over the temple website. The family chose to conduct private burial services following the public and virtual service.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are suggested to Tulane Law School or to the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane University.
