Noted lawyer Kermit Rudolf dies

Kermit M. Rudolf, a renowned Spokane attorney who served as Gonzaga University’s corporate counsel for more than two decades, died Wednesday after battling Parkinson’s disease for several years.

Affectionately known as “Kerm” to many of his friends, Rudolf was 85 years old.

“He was a man of principle, of honesty, and goodness,” said the Rev. Bernard Coughlin, Gonzaga’s chancellor who also served as the university’s president for more than 20 years.

“Kermit walked into my office the first week I arrived at Gonzaga and submitted his resignation … he said I should have the freedom to pick the attorney I wanted,” Coughlin said Friday. “That was the beginning of our association, and that was the kind of honesty and integrity that I came to see from that man over the last 30 years.”

Raised in Cheney, Rudolf was the valedictorian of Cheney High School’s class of 1935. Four years later, he graduated summa cum laude from Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and worked for three years as a reporter for the Decatur Herald in Illinois.

When World War II began, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He left the service as a major. In 1947, he and his wife, Fran, along with their two children, moved to Spokane. While enrolled at Gonzaga School of Law, Rudolf also worked as a sportswriter for The Spokesman-Review.

When he graduated summa cum laude in 1951, Rudolf became a founding partner of the law firm Dellwo, Rudolf, Grant and Schroeder, where he practiced for over 40 years.

In 1970, then GU President Rev. Richard E. Twohy asked Rudolf’s firm to serve as the university’s corporation counsel on an as-needed basis. Rudolf took the job, but knowing that the university didn’t have much money then, he never billed his alma mater full price. According to the university, other partners volunteered to take on some of Gonzaga’s legal affairs, but Rudolf always stepped up because he didn’t want the university charged more than it could afford at the time.

In 1988, Coughlin, who was president at the time, asked Rudolf to join the university as full-time, in-house corporation counsel – a position he held until his retirement on Dec. 31, 1993.

Rudolf and his family have been major benefactors of Gonzaga. Some of their causes include the athletic department, the law school, the Jundt Art Museum and various scholarship funds. The founding chairman of the Charlotte Y. Martin Foundation, he spent many years working on the foundation’s behalf.

Gonzaga has honored Rudolf on several occasions: with the Distinguished Alumni Merit Award, the Bulldog Club Service Award and by naming the Rudolf Fitness Center in 2003 after him. An avid athlete, Rudolf had remained active for many years, playing tennis, golf and racquetball until he was 80.

He is survived by his wife, Fran, five children, 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by son Jim Rudolf in 1963.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Aloysius Church. The Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, GU president, the Rev. Charles Skok, Spokane Diocese, and Coughlin will preside.