It’s with a heavy heart that Legal Pad notes the news that Jeffery Fromm, a longtime Hewlett-Packard lawyer, passed away last month. A good-natured, hard-working, cut-through-the-bull***, and very funny guy, Fromm will be missed by many. Fromm passed away in San Jose at the age of 61 after a battle with kidney cancer.
An intellectual property lawyer, Fromm headed up HP’s IP department before retiring last year. He started out as an engineer at HP before getting his JD and moving to the legal side of things at the company. Between HP stints, he worked as an IP lawyer at Drinker Biddle & Reath.
Legal Pad chatted with Jack Lennel, who worked with Fromm at HP for 18 years and considered him a mentor.
Late nights at HP, after the jump.
“He was sort of a workaholic,” recalls Lennel, who recently started his own law firm called the Standards Law Group. “He really loved HP — he’d be the first one in early in the morning and he always stayed late, but he was always available to discuss things and always very encouraging.”
He noted how Fromm would always tell it like it was: “He didn’t have a lot of slick indirection and he would call things as they are and with a little humor.”
Fromm is survived by Ellen, his wife of 37 years, and sons David and Aaron. The family requests that donations be made to the National Kidney Foundation or the American Cancer Society.
Please share any of your memories or thoughts below.
— Zusha Elinson
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