Donald Glazer ’66

Donald Glazer ’66—lawyer, author, entrepreneur, and poet—passed away on October 25, 2024, surrounded by loved ones after a long battle with lung cancer and multiple myeloma. At Dartmouth Don was a member of Pi Lambda Phi, a gymnast, religion major, and senior fellow. A law review editor at Harvard Law School, Don earned a master’s in law from the University of Pennsylvania before joining Ropes & Gray in Boston in 1970. He became a partner in 1978 and served as the inaugural chair of the firm’s emerging companies group. A natural educator, he taught securities law to incoming associates and lectured at Harvard Law School. Don went on to write books on Massachusetts corporate law and closing opinions. His Glazer and Fitzgibbon on Legal Opinions (the fourth edition of which Don completed just before his passing) and Massachusetts Corporation Law & Practice are standards in the field. Starting in 1992 Don partnered on multiple business ventures, served as chairman of the board of mutual funds at Grantham Mayo Waterloo, was special counsel to Goodwin Procter, and cofounded a Chinese biotech company, Beigene, that develops life-saving cancer treatments. The Beigene involvement paid off handsomely, and Don established a charitable foundation that supports organizations around the world for needy children. In 2023 Don went in still another direction and published a collection of poems titled Uninvited Guests. For Don, his real achievements were his lifelong friendships, magic, travel (especially to the Caribbean), tennis (which he played passionately), and daughters Elizabeth and Mollie and five grandchildren.