New Platt Walker Society Members Recognized

The North Carolina Bar Foundation (NCBF) is pleased to announce the Platt D. Walker Society Class of 2018. The Society, named in honor of the first president of the North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA), recognizes members and friends who include the Foundation in their personal estate plans.

Planned gifts that qualify a donor for membership in the Platt Walker Society include a testamentary bequest, a charitable trust, a gift of life insurance, a retirement plan beneficiary or other deferred gifts.

Members of the Platt D. Walker Society Class of 2018 were recognized at the NCBA Annual Meeting in Wilmington during the Awards and Recognitions Dinner. They are:

Robin Barefoot of Durham. She serves as general counsel for the Triangle Community Foundation, which provides more than $20 million in philanthropic support annually from its $209 million in assets. Barefoot, a graduate of North Carolina Central University School of Law, is a member of the NCBF Oversight Committee and will serve as chair of the Development Committee in 2018-19. She has designated the NCBF Foundation as an IRA beneficiary as her way to give back and help others.

Shelby Benton of Goldsboro. She served as president of the NCBA/NCBF in 2015-16.

Benton, who operates Benton Family Law, was the first Campbell Law School graduate and first certified family law specialist to serve in this capacity, and only the second lawyer from Goldsboro to do so. She continues to serve the organization as a member of the Past Presidents’ Council and co-chair of the Leadership Academy. Benton has made our Foundation the beneficiary of an insurance policy.

Nan Hannah of Cary. She graduated from Washington & Lee University Law School and practices with Hannah, Sheridan & Cochran in Raleigh. Her service to the NCBA/NCBF includes leadership of the Transitioning Lawyers Commission, Lawyers in the Schools Committee and the Construction Law Section. Hannah has also been involved with several more committees and sections, and has served on the Board of Governors. She has designated a percentage of an equity account to help build the NCBF Endowment.

Mark Holt of Raleigh. He is a former member of the NCBA/NCBF Board of Governors and graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law. Holt, who serves on the Oversight Committee and the Development Committee, previously established Justice Funds honoring the late Jim Nance and D.P. Russ from his hometown of Fayetteville. Holt and his wife, Joanna, have designated a gift in their family estate plan to support the Wade M. Smith Justice Fund and build the Legal Aid of North Carolina Fund.

George B. Mast of Smithfield. He grew up on a farm in Watauga County and graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law. Mast started Mast Law Firm in 1962 and served as president of the NCBA/NCBF in 1990-91. His involvement with the NCBA spans more than five decades and includes service as chair of the Litigation Section. Mast has included a bequest in his estate plan that will help the NCBF Endowment serve thousands of North Carolinians.

Caryn McNeill of Raleigh. She has just completed service as president of the NCBA/NCBF, overseeing a year of dramatic transformation for the organization as a whole and the Foundation in particular. McNeill is a graduate of Duke University School of Law and has spent her entire career with the Smith Anderson firm. She has set aside a portion of her retirement plan assets to support the Foundation’s statewide pro bono and public service programs.

Theresa Joan Rosenberg of Raleigh. She is managing principal of Theresa Joan Rosenberg Architect & Attorney, a sole proprietorship that she established in 2000. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law and also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from N.C. State University. Rosenberg is affiliated with the American Institute of Architects Trust and serves on the Transitioning Lawyers Commission. She has included the Foundation in her estate plan.

Kirk G. Warner of Raleigh. A retired colonel in the U.S. Army, Judge Advocate General Corps, he practices with Smith Anderson and serves on the NCBA/NCBF Board of Governors. Warner earned his law degree from Duke University and the University of Toledo and devoted 33 years to military service, retiring in 2013. He helped establish the Military & Veterans Law Section of the NCBA. Warner and his wife, Diane, are donating a remainder of their trust to the Foundation.

Jane B. Weathers of Raleigh. She is a former director of the NCBA’s Sections & Divisions who retired in 2013 following 28 years as a member of the N.C. Bar Center staff. A dyed-in-the-wool Demon Deacon, she is a graduate of Wake Forest University and a daughter of its renowned law school dean, the late Carroll W. Weathers. Weathers has included the Foundation in her estate plan to benefit the Lawyers Helping Lawyers Fund, which was established in her honor at the time of her retirement.

R. Michael Wells Sr. of Winston-Salem. He is a graduate of Wake Forest University School of Law and served as president of the NCBA/NCBF in 2102-13. A former chair of the Communications Committee, Wells has provided free legal insight to thousands of citizens through local radio programs and newspaper columns. He practices with Wells Law and joins the NCBF Development Committee this year. Wells and his wife, Janet, have generously included a cash bequest in their estate plan to support Foundation programs.