Theresa B. Stuchiner

Theresa B. Stuchiner (“Terry”), who died in 2013 at age 91, was a brilliant tax lawyer, a pioneer in pension law, and a role model who broke employment barriers for women. She was inducted as a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (the “College”) in 2000.

In 1943, Terry received a Bachelor’s degree from Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio (in 1967, the University become part of Case Western Reserve University). She earned her LL.B. from Columbia University School of Law located in New York, NY in 1947 and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1948.

Terry’s ultimate successes were even more impressive given the doors that were closed to her as a woman in the legal field. Women lawyers had made some strides in obtaining legal educations and jobs during World War II, but Terry became a member of the New York Bar when most New York City law firms did not hire women attorneys. Nonetheless, in 1948, Terry managed to begin her career by working for a lawyer and handling some cases on her own. In 1954, she began working for Prentice-Hall, Inc., a major educational publisher, writing and researching tax publications. (Starting in 1984, Prentice-Hall was acquired and divided in several acquisitions and restructurings and in 1994, Wolters Kluwer N.V. acquired Prentice Hall Law & Business.)

Terry continued her education, receiving an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law in 1964.

In the mid to late 1960s, Terry followed her interest in tax law and moved to Kwasha Lipton, an employee benefits consulting firm, in Ft. Lee, New Jersey. Notably, she became its first woman partner. (After several acquisitions and restructurings, Kwasha Lipton became part of “Buck Consultants at Xerox.”)

Regarded in the pension community as an expert on defined benefit plans, Terry’s career highlights and influence on pension policy were numerous. In 1982, she authored “How to Integrate a Retirement Plan with Social Security,” published by Prentice-Hall, Inc. This special study was later submitted as part of the April 17, 1984, Forums on Federal Pensions for the Subcommittee on Civil Service, Post Office, and General Services of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. In 1983, she testified before the Senate Committee on Finance on behalf of the Association of Private Pension & Welfare Plans (“APPWP”) advocating for adding protections to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) for working and non-working women. She also testified for APPWP before the House Committee on Education & Labor Subcommittee on Labor Management Relations in 1984 on the proposed Pension Equity Act. (APPWP became the American Benefits Council in 2000.)

A pension innovator, Terry, with others at Kwasha Lipton, was known for developing the first cash balance pension plan in 1984-85 for Bank of America Corp. Cash balance plans were a new type of defined benefit retirement plan that, in lieu of a typical benefit formula based on years of service and salary, instead mimicked defined contribution retirement plans like Internal Revenue Code of 1986 Section 401(k) plans by basing benefits on hypothetical employee accounts with fixed rates of return. The cash balance pension design evolved over time, including addressing protections for older workers, and was adopted by many employers as a helpful pension alternative.

Active as a participant and leader in sharing her expertise with others in the profession, Terry headed the New York State Bar Committee on Employee Benefits of its Section on Taxation. Terry also was a frequent speaker including the American Bar Association Section of Taxation Employee Benefits Committee and Section on Labor and Employment Law panels. Among her many accolades, she was selected as one of Business Insurance’s 100 Leading Women in 2000.

Terry’s generosity with sharing her talent for understanding and communicating complex pension topics was widely appreciated, including her mentorship of many younger professionals working in employee benefits, especially women. Patricia L. Wojcik, Director and Consulting Actuary at Buck Consultants, who worked with Terry at Kwasha Lipton, said, “Not only was she a brilliant lawyer but also a wonderful person and a great mentor. Being a woman in a mostly male profession, she was my inspiration as she conquered many of the barriers herself and did it with class.”

“Terry was someone with whom I could discuss complicated ERISA and tax issues,” said her friend and College Fellow Susan Serota. “Terry’s commitment to the development of pension law and as a mentor of younger lawyers, especially women lawyers, made her a role model and an expert advisor on defined benefit pension plans.”

College Fellow Phyllis Borzi, former Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration in the Obama Administration and a former Congressional staff member said of Terry, “She had the invaluable skill of being able to unpack complicated topics and explain them in simple, understandable and relatable terms. Terry was a significant resource to me and other Congressional staff and, on many occasions, an outstanding witness at both House and Senate hearings on a variety of retirement topics. What a role model she was for young ERISA practitioners and a trusted advisor and friend to us all!”

For information on challenges faced by women in the law in the 1940s, see, e.g., “Adam’s Rib as an Historical Document: The Plight of Women Lawyers in the 1940s,” Hylton, Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog, 6/4/2013.https://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2013/06/adams-rib-as-historical-document/

Photo Source: Ann Stuchiner