Robert C. Bernius ’68

Robert C. Bernius ’68, of Potomac, Md.; Aug. 6. He was a Rhodes Scholar candidate and the goalkeeper for two of Brown’s best soccer teams. During his time he never lost a regular season game, and he was inducted into the Brown Athletic Hall of Fame in 1979. A Yale Law School graduate, he spent three years as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn and joined Nixon, Hargrave, Devans and Doyle in 1984 in Rochester, N.Y. He spent 10 years in Rochester before moving to Potomac to open their office in Washington, D.C. The firm subsequently merged to become Nixon Peabody. As a litigator for 40 years, he represented a variety of clients in First Amendment cases across the country. He also served as board chair of the D.C. Board of Professional Responsibility and as Nixon Peabody’s general counsel before retiring in 2015. He is survived by wife Elissa; daughters Morgen Bernius ’96, Ashley Bernius ’06, Shay Bernius Squeglia ’06 MAT; and six grandchildren.