In Memoriam
| Publication year | 2023 |
| Pages | 66 |
January, 2023
In Memoriam
William "Bill" Morris Laubach
January 1,1938-November 10, 2022
William "Bill" Morris Laubach passed away on November 10, 2022. Bill was a member of the Texas state bar for more than 50 years and also practiced law in Florida and Colorado.
Bill completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with a BA in 1960. He received his law degree from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in 1963. He began his career in Texas as an assistant district attorney in Lubbock County, handling felony trials and appeals. He then practiced criminal law appeals as an associate in the law firm of Woody & Rosen in Houston. In 1967, he opened up his own law office in Houston, where he practiced criminal and family law and shared office space with Bob Richter Jr. and Sen. Bob Gammage.
Bill married Gail C. Upshaw at Galveston Island, Texas, on August 8, 1975, and the couple raised their children while living in La Porte, Texas. In 1993, the couple moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, where Bill served as executive director and in-house counsel for the PBA-Pinellas County Police Benevolent Society. There, he served approximately 1,300 law enforcement personnel, negotiated collective bargaining agreements, and represented PBA in hundreds of internal affairs investigations and arbitrations. He also was a lecturer at Stetson University College of Law and a presenter and debater at PERA meetings throughout Florida.
In 2005, the couple moved to Marble Falls, in the Texas Hill Country. There, Bill handled wills and probate matters for the residents of Horseshoe Bay, Marble Falls, and Lago Vista—house calls only. In 2014, the couple moved to Colorado Springs, where Bill practiced probate law from his home office until 2022, when he learned he had a rare case of bladder cancer that had spread to his liver.
Bill is remembered for his love of books (from law publications to John Le Carre novels), sending blast emails, being a political curmudgeon, his involvement with the Native American culture of the Lakotas, and his philosophy for living in harmony ("we are all related"). But above all, he is remembered for his love of his family. Bill loved spending time with his family, children, and grandchildren.
Bill is survived by his wife of 47 years...
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