The legal community was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Joseph Hartzler who
led the prosecution team following the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City. He died on December 18, 2025, at the age of 75. NAFUSA
members who toured the Oklahoma City Memorial during the 2024 Annual Conference will
recall that the bombing claimed 168 lives and injured many more. Hartzler, who was at that
time an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Springfield, Illinois, submitted his name volunteering to
assist with the case to then Attorney General Janet Reno, who later named him to lead the
prosecution team investigating the bombing. Hartzler and the assembled team of
prosecutors secured the conviction of Timothy McVeigh, who committed the deadliest
domestic terror attack to that time in American history. After a two-month trial, McVeigh
was convicted of 11 counts of murder and conspiracy. He was sentenced to death and
executed in 2001.

Hartzler attended American University Washington College of Law where he met fellow
classmate Lisa Harms. They married in 1981 and together they had three sons, Alex, Adam and Matthew, all of whom were the joy of his life. Hartzler was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1988, but he refused to let the disease slow him down, and he led the
successful McVeigh prosecution from a wheelchair. He is survived by his wife, three sons
and their wives, and five grandchildren.

His son Matthew paid tribute to his father recalling that the successful prosecution of
Timothy McVeigh provided a measure of justice to the victims and their families. He added
that his father’s role in the trial was “… a watershed moment for disability visibility…in an
era when disability was often hidden, he navigated the federal courthouse in front of a sea
of cameras, challenging national perceptions of capability in his motorized scooter.”

Patrick “Pat” Ryan, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma during the
Clinton Administration and former NAFUSA member, passed away unexpectedly on
September 18, 2025, while vacationing with family and friends in Aruba. He was 79.
Pat is remembered as the U.S. Attorney during the Oklahoma City bombing prosecutions
and for his work with both the prosecutors in those cases and with the survivors and
families of the victims of that deadly bombing. He was also well known for wearing his
signature cowboy hat during the months he spent in Denver attending the trials of Timothy
McVeigh and co-conspirator Terry Nichols, who were convicted for their roles in the
bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19,1995. Pat, who was
sworn in as U.S. Attorney in June 2025, shortly after the bombing, said he wore his white
cowboy hat to remind the people back home in Oklahoma that, “Ok, we’ve got a guy there
who’s from Oklahoma, who is one of us, who is fighting for us.” Pat served as U.S. Attorney
until October 1999.

Pat received his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 1969 and then served four years in
the United States Air Force, including two years as the Chief Military Justice for Southeast
Asia from 1972 to 1974. At the time of his death, he was a Director of the law firm Ryan
Whaley Attorneys in Oklahoma City.

A flag is being flown over the Department of Justice in his honor. His cowboy hat is on
display at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.

Former NAFUSA member Patrick H. NeMoyer passed away on May 17, 2025, at his home in Orchard Park, New York, after a long illness. He was 72. During his long legal career, he served as Erie County Attorney, and a state appeals judge with the 4th Appellate Division in Rochester, New York, in addition to serving as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York. He was nominated by President Clinton in 1993 and, after Senate confirmation, went on to serve as U.S. Attorney until 1997, when he stepped down to run for a seat on the State Supreme Court (Appellate Court). He presided over a wide range of cases there for the next 26 years. He was named Western New York Judge of the Year by the State Trial Lawyers Association in 2006.

Those who knew Judge NeMoyer remarked on his incredible intellect. He was a member of the Mensa Society. His wife of 47 years, Elyse, commented, “He loved the law. He was a very cerebral guy who enjoyed the intellectual challenges presented by the law.” She went on to say that he even enjoyed the boring parts of the law. He also loved politics and was active in Democratic Party politics before he became a judge. While U.S. Attorney, Judge NeMoyer was proud of the role his office and the Buffalo FBI office played in the investigation that led to the arrest and conviction of Timothy McVeigh, a western New York native, for his role in the 1995 Oklahoma City terrorist bombing. NAFUSA member Denise O’Donnell, who was First Assistant under NeMoyer and who later succeeded him when he stepped down to become a judge, remembers Judge NeMoyer as “…an extremely kind and decent man that you could go to for good, solid advice.”

In addition to his wife, Judge NeMoyer leaves four daughters, Erin, Caitlin, Amanda and
Rachel and four grandchildren. A flag was flown over the Department of Justice in his
honor.

Jessica Aber, who served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia for most of the Biden administration died in her home in Alexandria, Virginia, on March 26 of natural causes. She was 43. The news of her death greatly shocked and saddened her family and many friends in the U.S. Attorney and Department of Justice community. Her friends and colleagues were “heartbroken” to learn of her passing.

Ms. Aber, a career federal prosecutor, took office in October 2021, after being nominated by President Biden and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. She resigned from that position in January 2025. She was known for prosecuting high-profile cases involving organized crime and national security. U.S. Attorney Erik Seibert, who currently heads that office, remarked that “[Ms. Aber] was unmatched as a leader, mentor, and prosecutor, and she is simply irreplaceable as human being.”

As reported in the December 2024 NAFUSA newsletter, former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico and founding NAFUSA member Victor Otega died in May 2024, at the age of 91.

On February 6, 2025, a ceremony was held in the U.S. Attorneys Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico during which the flag flown over the Department of Justice in honor of former U. S. Attorney Ortega was presented to Carol Ortega, his widow. The presentation was made by lifetime NAFUSA member and former president Bill Lutz on behalf of NAFUSA. In addition to Mrs. Ortega, the ceremony was attended by current U.S. Attorneys Holland Kastin, Judge Harris Hartz from the 10th Circuit, who worked for Mr. Ortega in the 1970’s, and former U.S. Attorneys Fred Federici and Alexander Euballez , among others. Mrs. Ortega expressed her gratitude and thanked NAFUSA for the ceremony and flag honoring her late husband.

Well-known Houston attorney Morton Susman passed away surrounded by loving family on January 21, 2025. He was 90. Following graduation from Southern Methodist University Law School he enlisted in the United States Navy and served in the Navy’s JAG Corps for three years of active duty. Following his military commitment he moved with his family to Houston, Texas. He began his career with the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney and later, in 1966, was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas by President Johnson. Susman, a former
NAFUSA member, had a long-distinguished career in private practice. He concluded his legal career as a senior partner at the New York law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges in 1997.

In retirement, Susman and his wife Nina traveled the world and spent much of his retirement years at their vacation home in Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona. He loved scuba diving, underwater photography and flying radio-controlled airplanes.

Lifetime NAFUSA member Richard “Dick” Eagleton passed away on
November 23, 2024, at his home in Peoria, Illinois surrounded by his family.
He was 94. Dick served as the United States Attorney for the Central District
of Illinois during the Kennedy/Johnson Administration.

Dick graduated from Yale in 1952 where he was a member of ROTC. He
attended law school at the University of Illinois Law School after serving three
years of active duty in the Navy. He graduated law school in 1958 and
practiced law “taking whatever cases he could get” before being appointed
U.S. Attorney. He was proud to claim to be the only person to be appointed
U.S. Attorney from Peoria. He was elected 10th Circuit Judge in Illinois in 1970
where he presided for 20 years.

His years as a U.S. Attorney had a big impact on his life, and he enjoyed
exchanging stories about his experiences while in office. After retirement from
the bench, Dick, a third generation Eagleton to become a lawyer, spent time
carrying on his family’s tradition in the legal profession, becoming of counsel
to the Chicago based firm Hinshaw and Culbertson at its Peoria office. He
also enjoyed attending Cubs spring training and traveling with his wife, Joyce.

In fact, much of the traveling that Dick and his wife enjoyed during his
retirement years was to attend annual NAFUSA meetings throughout the
country. A longtime NAFUSA member, he greatly enjoyed visiting a different
location and socializing with younger NAFUSA members (most, if not all, were
younger than him) at the annual conferences. He was proud of the fact that he
was still attending the meetings and believed himself to be the only one
attending who dated back to the Kennedy/Johnson Administration of the
1960s. He was a familiar and welcome face at the annual conferences and
treasured his time there listening to “renowned speakers” and continuing
education programs. He was quoted as praising NAFUSA nonpartisanship
saying, “in a room full of lawyers … it’s hardly noticeable that politics are
involved, even though most have deep political roots.

In keeping with NAFUSA tradition, a flag was flown over the DOJ in his honor.
He will be greatly missed by his friends in NAFUSA.

Victor R. Ortega, former United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico
and founding member of NAFUSA, died after a short illness on May 17, 2024,
in Corrales, NM. He was 91.

Victor, whose grandfather was a signer of the New Mexico Constitution, was
born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He attended Harvard University on
scholarship, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in applied physics in
1954. After graduation he was employed as a systems engineer on the Navajo
Guided Missile project until he was drafted for service in the U.S. Army. While
in the Army he graduated from the U.S. Army Guided Missile School at Ft.
Bliss, TX. Following military service, Victor was awarded a scholarship and
attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1959. Following admission to the
New Mexico bar, he served as an Assistant District Attorney for the Second
Judicial District in Albuquerque until entering the private practice of law in
1961.

In 1969, Victor was appointed United States Attorney for the District of New
Mexico by President Richard Nixon. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and
served in that position under Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter until June
1978 when he returned to private practice with the law firm Montgomery and
Andrews in Santa Fe. While U.S. Attorney, Victor was appointed by Attorney
General Elliott Richardson to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory
Committee (AGAC) and remained on that committee from 1973 to 1978,
serving as chair his last year. He was largely responsible for ensuring that the
AGAC became a permanent part of the DOJ.

Victor for many years was the senior litigator with Montgomery and Andrews,
concentrating primarily on complex commercial litigation. He represented
Southern Union Company in the New Mexico Natural Gas antitrust litigation
and the telephone company US West in the Inside Wire antitrust litigation.
He was for many years an avid runner and cyclist and completed a cycling
tour across the United States in 2000 at the age of 67. He enjoyed cycling in
Europe and skiing, both cross country and alpine, and loved fly fishing.

He is survived by his wife, Carol and his children John V. Ortega of Boulder,
CO, daughter Annamarie Shunny of Steamboat Springs, CO and
granddaughter Daniel Ortega of Seattle, WA. A flag has been flown in his
honor over the DOJ.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson died Wednesday, November 13 after suffering a stroke. He was 84. He led the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel as Assistant Attorney General and later served as Solicitor General from June 2001 to July 2004. While in that office he argued 65 cases.

Olson, a longtime NAFUSA member, argued and won many landmark cases, including the high profile case Bush v. Gore, which resulted in the presidency going to George W. Bush. He continued to argue cases of high impact before the Court after his time as Solicitor General as a private lawyer.

His tenure as Solicitor General was marked by personal tragedy. His wife Barbara was on the highjacked plane that went down at the Pentagon. She was able to call him and tell him that her plane was highjacked and talk for several minutes before the line went dead.

Most of Olson’s legal career was in private practice. He was a member of the conservative Federalist Society, but also championed causes such as allowing “dreamers” to remain in the U.S. legally and striking down laws banning gay marriage. He was still practicing law up until a few days before his death.

Attorney General Merrick Garland released a statement praising Olson’s integrity, skill and dedication to the rule of law. “The passing of Ted Olson is an enormous loss the for the legal community. Ted was an extraordinary attorney and public servant whose
contributions to the Justice Department and the law will long be remembered.”

In keeping with NAFUSA tradition, a flag was flown in his honor over the Department of
Justice on November 18, 2024.