Berney Strauss, RIP | Power Line

Berney Strauss was my best college friend. After college we went to graduate school together pursuing our interest in literature before shifting our attention elsewhere.

Berney died this past Tuesday morning. He was in the hospital confronting dire complications of continuing health issues. His beautiful wife Ebie had donated a kidney to Berney to deal with his issues, but the underlying disease had recurred. When I texted Ebie for an update Tuesday morning, she responded: “Very, very sad to say Berney died unexpectedly this morning at 4:06 a.m. Naturally, I am devastated.”

Berney was a hilarious and incredibly entrepreneurial guy from the time I got to know him in college, through graduate school, through law school, and through his legal career. In college Berney resurrected the Jack-O-Lantern, Dartmouth’s defunct humor magazine. Seeking the money necessary to resurrect the magazine, he sent out a fundraising letter and proudly showed me the $100 check he promptly received from Nelson Rockefeller. He even invited me to contribute to the debut issue of the risen Jack-O-Lantern. He told me he thought it had been a third-rate Harvard Lampoon and that he aspired to make it a second-rate Harvard Lampoon. (That was his sense of humor.)

In graduate school, I happened to be driving by a restaurant in New Haven when I saw Berney emerge with his briefcase. He was pumping his fist. Back in the apartment we shared I asked him what had happened. He told me had just sold an ad. His entrepreneurial spirit represented just one aspect of his enthusiasm for life.

I visited Berney at his parents’ home in Mobile. I visited Berney in New Orleans, where he practiced law after graduating from Tulane Law School. He and Ebie visited us in the Twin Cities. My wife was crazy about Berney. We both mourn his loss.

This is Berney’s New Orleans Times-Picayune obituary. So long, my loving friend. We shall meet again.

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Berney was a loving husband and father who dedicated his life to caring for his family, friends, and clients. He was one of the most generous people you will ever meet and we, his family, are grateful for the time that we had with him and will miss him dearly.

Berney was born on September 12, 1951 in Mobile, Alabama to his parents Paula Hoffman Strauss and John Leopold Strauss. Paula grew up in New Haven, Connecticut and met John shortly after graduating from Wellesley College. John was a Mobile native who served as president of the family-run L. Hammel Dry Goods Company after attending Dartmouth College. Berney grew up in Mobile, attending UMS and graduating from Indian Springs School in 1969. At Indian Springs, he was elected president of the student council and won the Sewanee award for Outstanding Character. Berney enjoyed spending summers at Camp Androscoggin in Wayne, Maine. In his youth, Berney excelled at waterskiing and ping pong and was an avid fan of jazz, Motown, and rock music.

Berney studied English at Dartmouth College, where he graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1973. Berney loved his four years in Hanover where he served as editor of the Jack-o-Lantern humor magazine and participated in intramural sports on behalf of his dorm South Fayerweather. Berney received a masters degree from Yale University in American Studies in 1975. Berney then studied law at Tulane University, where he was selected a finalist in the Tulane Moot Court and later taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor.

After law school, Berney earned the rare distinction of being licensed in all five Gulf States, as well as New York. He started his career at Phelps Dunbar LLP and Barham & Churchill before starting his own law practice in 1986. Berney specialized in maritime law and devoted his career to representing clients who were injured while working in dangerous conditions offshore. Berney continued to dedicate himself to his law practice–Strauss & King–until his passing.

In 1987, Berney was set up on a blind date with his wife, Ebie Taylor Strauss, by her brother Buck Taylor, who Berney knew from UMS. They married on October 6, 1989, and then shared 36 wonderful years together. Ebie supported Berney as he grew his law practice, and they worked as a team to raise their two children, John Hammel Strauss and Virginia Marion McDuffie Strauss.

With his children, Berney shared his love of living well through sports, food, travel, music, Impressionist art, and classic cinema. Throughout their childhoods and young adulthoods, Berney enthusiastically supported his children’s academic endeavors and artistic pursuits. Berney also shared with his family his sense of humor and love of storytelling.

Berney was a lifelong Alabama football fan. In fact, when applying to colleges, one admissions officer asked Berney who was the greatest American of the 20th century. Without hesitation, Berney answered, “Bear Bryant.” (Berney was not admitted to that college.)

Above all else, Berney was a kind-hearted, fun-loving, and devoted husband and father. Berney made it clear every day how much he loved Ebie, John Hammel, and Marion and every call or conversation ended with “I love you.”

Berney is survived by his wife Ebie, his children John Hammel and Marion, his sister Dr. Ruth Hammel Strauss, and his soon-to-be daughter-in-law Dr. Elizabeth Paige Stephanz.

Memorials may be made to the Manning Family Children’s Hospital in New Orleans or to a charity of the donor’s choice.

A graveside service will be held at 12 noon on Sunday, March 16, 2025 at Springhill Avenue Temple Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama with a celebration of life to follow.