HOUSTON – Monday, August 5, 2019 – On August 2, 2019, Stephen Pate received the prestigious Andrew C. Hecker Award from the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC), which is presented annually to the federation member who authors the year's most outstanding article in a federation publication. Pate received the award as the author of the article “The Incredible Mr. Appleman: A Tribute to John Alan Appleman, 1912-1982.” The article is a biography of John Alan Appleman, of Appleman on Insurance fame, and was published in the July 2019 edition of FDCC Insights.
The award honors the memory of Andrew C. Hecker, a senior partner in the Philadelphia law firm Hecker, Brown, Sherry, and Johnson, who died of cancer at the age of 50. Andrew held many positions of responsibility in the FDCC, including serving on the board of directors and chairing the Publications Committee for many years. What made the award especially poignant for Stephen was that he was a friend of Andrew’s and writes about that friendship in the article “The Hecker Award, Andy Hecker, and Me.,” published in the July 2019 Federation Flyer. Click here to view the article.
Stephen is the only federation member in history to win the three most important awards given to members. He was previously awarded the John Alan Appleman Award, given for outstanding service as a substantive law section chair, and the Joseph R. Olshan Award, given for outstanding service as a committee chair.
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