Warren George Wickersham

Warren George Wickersham, of McLean, Virginia, much-loved husband, father, grandfather, and friend,passed away peacefully at age 81 on February 8, 2019 after a short illness.

Warren was born in 1938 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Donald Rex Wickersham and Vera Elizabeth Wickersham (née Jacobson).

In 1952, Warren’s family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where his parents opened and ran a gourmet grocery store. In addition to excelling academically, Warren helped support his family by, among other things, devising an innovative system of subcontracting paper routes. He also founded a successful local summer camp, Camp Wildwood, which he ran every summer through college and law school.

After graduating as valedictorian of his high school in 1956, Warren reconsidered his long-held plan to attend seminary and instead matriculated at Duke University as a member of the inaugural class of National Merit Scholars. At Duke, he served as president of the Men's Student Government Association and graduated summa cum laude in 1960.

Warren graduated from Yale Law School, where he was a distinguished student and a member of the Board of Editors of The Yale Law Journal, in 1963. He then served for three years at the Pentagon in the Office of the General Counsel of the Air Force, with the rank of captain.

In 1964 he met teacher Faye Roseman. They married in 1965 and remained deeply in love for the rest of his life.

In 1966, Warren joined the law firm that eventually became known as Surrey & Morse. In 1968, he was made partner and moved with Faye and their first son to Beirut, Lebanon to open an office of the firm there along with a senior partner. When that senior partner soon moved to Paris to start an office there, Warren became the sole resident partner of the Beirut office, supervising the associates and all operations of the office. In 1971, Warren and Faye, now with two sons, returned to the U.S. where he became partner in charge of the firm's Washington, D.C. office. In 1977, the family moved to London, England, where Warren opened another office of the firm. He retained a leadership role in the firm globally and was instrumental in arranging its merger in1986 with Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, creating one of the largest law firms in the world.

In 1988, Warren retired at age 50, according to his long-stated plan, and he and Faye moved back to McLean, Virginia. He remained active in law for many years serving as an arbitrator.

Warren was generous and kind. Among his many areas of focus, he supported his alma maters, including underwriting an international scholars program at Duke; the arts, including Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts; and humanitarian missions, including Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and The Salvation Army. He greatly enjoyed serving as board president of his neighborhood homeowners association for many years.

Warren is fondly remembered by many for his wit and warmth.

Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Elizabeth Faye Wickersham, two sons, attorney Mark Warren Wickersham (Kristin) of Richmond, Virginia and neuroscientist Ian Rex Wickersham (Sara) of Brookline, Massachusetts, and four granddaughters: Jocelyn P. Wickersham and Diana E. Wickersham, and Vivian E.S.E. Wickersham and Alexandra A.S. Wickersham.

Friends are welcome to attend the memorial service and celebration of his life to be held at 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, April 6, 2019 at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in McLean, Virginia.