Veteran Springfield attorney Gary Powell dies at 70

Courtesy Spencer Fane LLP

Gary Powell's law career spanned four decades.

Gary Powell, a Springfield attorney for four decades, has died.

Powell, 70, died Oct. 20, according to his obituary posted to GormanScharpf.com. His obituary cites "a short battle with cancer."

Powell most recently worked as a partner at the Springfield office of Kansas City-based Spencer Fane LLP. He was among six attorneys who exited Husch Blackwell LLP in 2014 to form Spencer Fane's Springfield office, according to past reporting.

Jason Smith, a partner at Spencer Fane who helped launch the Springfield office with Powell, said his colleague "was at the forefront of his practice and truly an expert in his field."

"Over the course of his 40-plus-year career, the last 10 with Spencer Fane, Gary’s expertise, work ethic and good nature earned him the trust of his clients and the friendship and admiration of virtually everyone he came in contact with," Smith said in a statement provided to Springfield Business Journal. "He set an example for us to follow both in his commitment to his profession and his engagement in the community.

"Gary was a tremendous friend and mentor to all of us at Spencer Fane, and we join his family in grieving this terrible loss to both our firm and the Springfield community."

A member of SBJ's 2014 class of Men of the Year, Powell was a former managing partner at Husch Blackwell in Springfield. He had worked at the firm since 2008, and for the Springfield office of St. Louis-based Husch & Eppenberg LLC 1997–2008, before it merged with Blackwell Sanders LLP to create Husch Blackwell. Powell also served 1980-1997 as an attorney for Farrington & Curtis PC in Springfield.

“I have had the privilege of working with many clients in our community, advising them on their business and estate planning matters," Powell said in his 2014 Men of the year profile.

Powell's bio at SpencerFane.com indicates he was a member of the law firm's tax, trusts and estates group, with experience in estate planning, trust and estate administration, and tax and business transactions.

"His leadership abilities and expertise with sophisticated estate planning, business succession planning, business formation and acquisitions, and shareholder and buy-sell agreements offer immediate value to our clients," the biography reads.

Powell additionally was involved with civic work at organizations such as the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc., The Salvation Army and the Springfield chapter of the American Red Cross, according to past reporting.