Club Member Dick Sayler dies

National Press Club member Richard H. Sayler died Aug. 7, in Bentleyville Village, Ohio. Dick also lived in Baltimore. He had been a spousal member of NPC since 2013. Martha J. Lockwood, long-time NPC member, was his committed life partner.

A native of Rochester, N. Y., Dick graduated from Dartmouth College and Michigan Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Michigan Law Review. He was law clerk for Chief Judge J. Edward Lumbard of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Associate Justice Byron R. White of the U. S. Supreme Court. Thereafter, he served for several years in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice as Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General and was present during the infamous “Saturday Night Massacre” during the Nixon Administration in 1973.

A litigator throughout his career, following government service he practiced privately with major law firms in New York City, Dayton and Cleveland. He was managing partner of Smith & Shnake in Dayton and retired from Jones Day in Cleveland in 2008. Dick had since been actively involved as an arbitrator or mediator in some significant cases, especially ones involving disputes over intellectual property rights.

In addition to enjoying the National Press Club with Martha, Dick was an active member of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.