It is with a collective heavy heart that we inform you of the passing of our partner and the founder of our firm, Eric Luse, after a ten-year battle with cancer. Over the course of his 40 plus years of legal practice, Eric was a tireless advocate for the community banking industry and a trusted advisor to management teams and boards of directors of community banks across the country. He will forever be associated in the mutual banking industry as the father and patron saint of the mutual holding company structure, which has enabled so many community banks to thrive and prosper. His attitude toward work and life in the face of his own personal health adversity could serve as a role model for all – he never dwelled on his own misfortune and continued to engage, lead and advise as always and with his usual tenacity and passion.

His dedication to the firm and the practice of law was second only to his dedication to his family. Eric is survived by his wife of 43 years, Susan, three children and three grandchildren. He loved his family deeply.

Eric’s greatest legacy will be the firm that he played such a critical role in shaping and developing during the past 27 years. Due to Eric’s vision and leadership, Luse Gorman is the premier community banking law firm in the country today, representing community banks and holding companies from Maine to Florida, east coast to west coast, Alaska and Hawaii and the Mid-West in between. We work with more than 350 financial institutions and their holding companies, public and private, mutual and stock, and no firm knows better than we do on a real-time basis the issues facing community banks. Eric’s guiding philosophy for our firm was for us to be not just a legal advisor to, but to become a strategic and valued partner with, our clients. We never will lose sight of the high standards Eric set for the firm – provide quality and timely service; understand the unique needs of each client; provide practical and understandable advice; and always place the interests of the client first. These standards have enabled our success and will continue to guide our performance in years to come.

We thank Eric for his vision and service and we will forever miss him.