Berrien C. Eaton, Jr.

Berrien C. Eaton, Jr., who died in 2001 at age 82, was a prolific writer and speaker helping lawyers understand the then-new Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). Berrien was inducted in 2000 as a Charter Emeritus Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (the “College”).

Berrien received his B.S. in 1940 from Williams College in Williamstown, MA. He served in the U.S. Army between 1942 and 1946. He graduated in 1948 from University of Virginia School of Law with an LL.B. and was a Notes Editor for the Virginia Law Review.

After law school, Berrien worked for Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone (later, Miller Canfield, P.L.C.), in Detroit. His journey with tax law began with numerous published articles addressing tax issues for charitable foundations. He was a special consultant to the Russell Sage Foundation on its published study entitled, “Philanthropic Giving.”

Berrien was a member of the graduate faculty at Wayne State University Law School in 1963 and 1964, lecturing on taxation. In the 1960s, he published articles on tax treatment of professional corporations and associations in the Journal of Taxation and presented on professional associations at the New York University Annual Institute of Federal Taxation. Berrien was co-author of Professional Corporations & Associations (Matthew Bender & Co.), a highly-regarded and frequently cited six-volume treatise first published in 1970.

By the mid-1970s, he was in Phoenix, AZ. Berrien was a stockholder at Leibsohn, Eaton, Gooding & Romley, P.C., Eaton, Lazarus & Dodge, Ltd., and Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett (later, Lathrop GPM LLP).

He was one of the experienced practitioners commenting to Congress before and after enactment of ERISA. For example, he submitted a statement in the record of the Pension Equity Tax Act of 1982, hearing before the Committee of Ways and Means in the U.S. House of Representatives on June 10, 1982. He focused on the challenges for small business retirement plans. He noted that he was one of the national originators of the Professional Corporation concept. In his statement, he brought his concerns about the effects of ERISA, stating that, “ERISA was a veritable earthquake of change, and there have been major tremors almost annually thereafter. Don’t you realize what this does to business costs and business planning?”

Berrien was active in Bar Association activities, including as Chairman, American Bar Association Liaison Group and was a frequent speaker, such as at the American Bar Association Section of Taxation meetings and American Law Institute -American Bar Association (“ALI-ABA”) conferences. He spoke on non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements, among other topics, helping to educate practitioners on the developing law and crossing paths with many College Fellows over the years.

College Fellow Roberta Casper Watson enjoyed being on several ALI-ABA panels with Berrien. She shared that Berrien used a cane, but had trouble finding a good fit because he was quite tall. At one faculty dinner, Berrien appeared with a new cane, which was beautifully hand-carved from the limb of a birch tree. It had the face of a mountain man carved on it, as well as a bear standing up on its two hind feet. However, it was not a good size so Berrien offered the gorgeous birch cane to anyone wanting it. Roberta took the cane and eventually had an occasion to use it, which kept her thinking of Berrien and the camaraderie of the program speakers.

A dedicated speaker on many tax topics, Berrien was known for his interest and enthusiasm for Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Associations (“VEBAs”), a vehicle for paying life, sickness, accident, or similar benefits. One College Fellow recalled that Berrien’s license plate read, “Mr. VEBA.”