When Bangor attorney Jane Clayton needed advice about life and the law, she’d often seek guidance from her colleague Marvin Glazier, who was known by many as “MG.”
Since his death 18 months ago at the age of 72, Glazier’s colleagues and members of the Penobscot County legal community have missed Glazier’s wisdom concerning matters large and small, legal and personal.
Last week, a granite bench was installed outside the Penobscot Judicial Center on Exchange Street in Glazier’s memory.
“It will be a good spot to stop and think about the advice that Marvin would give before you head inside for a court proceeding,” Clayton said. “Taking that moment of reflection will continue Marvin’s influence well into the future.”
Glazier died on Thanksgiving 2017 at his home in Bangor surrounded by his family after a brief battle with cancer. He had worked at Vafiades, Brountas & Kominsky since November 1969, his entire career. He was best known for his criminal defense work but also took on other types of cases.
The bench, installed in front of the flagpole next to the courthouse, was donated by Glazier’s sister, Rachel Leen, and her husband, David Leen, also a lawyer in Bangor. Built by Guernsey Monuments of Bangor, it is the only bench outside the building.
Glazier is not the first Bangor attorney or the first in his firm to be honored with a bench dedicated to his memory outside a courthouse. Lewis Vafiades and Albert Winchell Jr. were honored in October 2003 with two granite seats on either side of the steps to the historic Penobscot County Courthouse on Hammond Street.
Those benches were donated by the law offices the men helped start: Rudman Winchell and Vafiades, Brountas & Kominsky. Winchell died in 1992 and Vafiades in 2001. When the judicial center on Exchange Street was opened in 2009, the seats stayed put outside the building where the two men spent thousands of hours.
Leen said that Justice Andrew Mead, whose office is in the judicial center, took the Leens’ idea to his colleagues on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Maine’s high court not only rules on the law but also administers the state’s court system. Its permission was needed to install the bench.
Mead said last week that the justices unanimously endorsed the idea of a bench in Glazier’s honor. Mead, who practiced in Bangor before becoming a judge in 1990, described Glazier as a “well loved and much respected member of the bar.”
“He was a role model for all lawyers,” Mead said. “Having his name ensconced in granite near the entrance of the courthouse will remind all lawyers of the attributes that made him worthy of the tribute and motivate them to aspire to his example.”