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I am very sad to share that we have lost a true legend of the securities bar, former SEC Commissioner and Brooklyn Law School professor Roberta Karmel. Roberta passed away at her home in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York on March 23rd. Roberta made enormous contributions to the securities laws and to our profession, and I am truly heartbroken to have lost a wonderful friend and mentor.

As Roberta’s obituary notes, she grew up in Chicago and graduated from Radcliffe College and New York University School of Law. She started her career in the New York Regional Office of the SEC, rising to the position of Assistant Regional Administrator. Roberta moved from the SEC to private practice, and in 1977, President Jimmy Carter nominated her to serve as an SEC Commissioner. Roberta was subsequently confirmed by the Senate, and she became the first woman to serve as an SEC Commissioner. In 1980, Roberta returned to private practice and began her career in academia, where she distinguished herself as “a prolific scholar, publishing books and scores of articles on financial regulation and corporate law, and lectured as a visiting scholar at universities in Beijing, Bologna, Frankfurt, London, Melbourne, Paris, Shanghai, Seattle and Sydney.” Roberta retired as the Centennial Professor of Law of Brooklyn Law School, where she taught for 36 years. The title of one of Roberta’s most recent publications presents a very accurate description of her amazing career: Life at the Center: Reflections on Fifty Years of Securities Regulation.

After having admired Roberta from afar for many years, I was incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to work with her as a trustee of the SEC Historical Society, where we all benefited from her keen insights and her far-reaching knowledge and wisdom. Roberta was a wonderful mentor and friend who helped me in so many ways. I had hoped that Roberta would join me for the webcast on materiality that I moderated for the SEC Historical Society just a few weeks ago, but unfortunately her health did not permit her to join us, and she expressed concern that she was unable to participate in the dialogue on such an important topic. I often think about the moving speech that Roberta delivered at my request to the ABA Business Law Section’s Federal Regulation of Securities Committee meeting back in 2016, where she noted “partisanship has undermined the SEC’s mission and credibility and made it very difficult for the SEC to complete rulemaking mandated by statute.” I distinctly recall how the entire audience attending in the ballroom was blown away by Roberta’s thoughtful words that day.

Of course, Roberta was not just a titan of the securities bar, she was beloved by her family, friends, colleagues, students and fellow SEC alumni, and to all of them I offer my deepest condolences.

– Dave Lynn