This is the third of a series
of 12 profiles that chronicle Alexandria's Living
Legends, people who are today's history makers. Living
Legends of Alexandria is a joint project of the Rotary
Club of Alexandria and the Alexandria Gazette Packet.
Conceived and directed by Nina Tisara, it is designed as
an ongoing project to identify and honor those
individuals whose vision and dedication make a tangible
difference to the quality of life in Alexandria. For
more information or to nominate a Legend for next year's
program, visit tisaraphoto.com/legends.
Colleagues
describe Bernie Fagelson, age 95, as the dean of
Alexandria’s land use attorneys. "Bernie has been sort
of the grand old man of the land use BAR," attorney and
former City Councilman Lonnie Rich said. "What a role
model he is! He found a job that he loved, represented
his clients well, and is honorable." "Dean of
Alexandria’s land use attorneys?" Fagelson twinkled. "I
am not sure Bud Hart would agree, but I am flattered."
Fagelson is universally known as "the consummate
gentleman."
"Bernie is a kind and gentle man,
kind to everyone he meets," land-use attorney Howard
Middleton said. "He is respectful of elected officials,
entertaining in meetings, and an excellent speaker. He’s
very well rounded."
"Fagelson is not a slash and
burn kind of guy," Rich continued. "To me he is an
excellent example of how lawyers are supposed to
behave."
"I was okay until 90 and then it seems
everything started falling apart." Fagelson laughed.
"However I appreciate the kind words. I still come into
the office every day though some days I don’t get a
client call. Frankly, at this age, I need the
self-discipline."
"But regarding lawyers, what I
value is relationships," Fagelson continued. "If I
insist on anything it is, hopefully, the reality rather
than the perception of personal integrity. I look for
ordinary decency and kindness. Unfortunately integrity
has changed."
"If I am a product of anything,"
Fagelson explained, "I am a product of pre-WWII
Alexandria. My family has lived here more than 100
years; I am a Byrd Democrat by birth, a strange
combination of Byrd conservative and Roosevelt
neo-liberal."
"No president today compares
favorably with their WWII predecessors: Roosevelt,
Truman, or perhaps even Eisenhower," Fagelson said. "For
all the kicking that Clinton has taken, he at least left
the country liquid."
Fagelson was the first in
his family to become educated. His father was a
self-made, self-educated dairy farmer who worked to cure
tuberculosis. "My father chose law for me" and Bernie is
a Depression-era graduate of the George Washington Law
School. He was the youngest person in and President of
his law school class.
"If anyone made me who I am
it was my mother," Fagelson recalled. "But it was my
father who introduced me to local
politics."
"Alexandria underwent change after the
New Deal," Fagelson continued. "It had an experimental
way with Democrats. The Civil War was still the War
Between the States and, locally, the Republicans offered
some high grade people – especially Cook, Ring and
Calhoun. But Republicans think mostly in terms of
running things. It is essential that people come
first."
DURING WORLD WAR II, Navy Lt.
Bernard Fagelson served aboard the newly commissioned
USS Quincy. "I’m almost embarrassed at how much I
enjoyed the war," Fagelson mused. "The Quincy was the
first ship to fire on Normandy, and the last to fire on
the Japanese mainland. President Roosevelt traveled to
the Yalta Conference aboard the Quincy." Fagelson’s
military background also includes Intelligence work.
"I disagree that World War II veterans are the
greatest generation," Fagelson exclaimed. "To imply that
any generation compares with the founding generation is
arrogant."
"What we are is the luckiest
generation," Fagelson said. "What other generation
starts with a Depression, has a major war – hopefully
the War for all time – and now eats so well, dresses so
well, or lives so well?"
All my memories of
working in Alexandria seem to be good," Fagelson noted.
He began practicing law seriously in 1946.
"What
I appreciate about Bernie is his reasoned approach with
regard to the city," land use attorney Duncan Blair
said. "He has always presented himself on his own
credibility and his public performance demonstrates both
his knowledge of and love for the city of
Alexandria."
"My first year of practice I went to
work for Judge Robinson Moncure," Fagelson offered. "Now
there was an opportunity to observe a real legend. Then
I left to build my practice, doing trial work and
partnering with former Alexandria Mayor Leroy Bendheim."
Bendheim was mayor from 1955 until 1961 and Fagelson’s
law firm – Fagelson, Schonberger, Payne &
Deichmeister – is an offshoot of Bendheim &
Fagelson.
"In the late ‘50s," Fagelson reminded,
"in the middle of massive resistance, Bendheim and I
integrated the old Murphy’s Department Store lunch
counter. Actually Roy did it and I tagged along, but we
purposely took a couple of black men with us and we four
sat until their service was denied. When the store
wouldn’t serve them, we gave them our
coffees."
"Correct is following the norm,"
Fagelson explained, "Right is a conviction in your inner
conscience that what you’re doing should be done. There
are no second class citizens, everyone should be treated
fairly. I resent unfair treatment for blacks and glass
ceilings for women."
Fagelson is Director
Emeritus of Burke & Herbert Bank. The bank refers to
him as a "champion of the fairer sex." The first three
women to run for Alexandria office have Fagelson to
thank. "I pushed them into it," Bernie said with a
devilish grin.
"ONE OF MY FONDEST
memories," Fagelson recalled, "was lunching on King
Street at Schuman’s. It took about 30 minutes to walk
four blocks because we stopped and talked with people.
There was a long table in the back of the bakery
essentially a club table. The town’s wheeler dealers,
movers and shakers used to frequent that table." Bernie
enjoys power lunches and today La Bergerie is among his
favorite restaurants.
Is integrity his lasting
legacy? "Well," Fagelson said, "integrity is honesty
plain, not cheating. Character is more subtle, more
philosophical. I have always been afraid of vanity, but
I hope you think me reasonably honest."
"Bernie
is the consummate gentleman and in the public setting
his level of discourse has always been courteous and
inquiring," Blair said. "He argues the argument, not the
arguer, and does so respectfully."
"I guess my
Alexandria legacy, depending on who you ask, is
sometimes buildings but more that I was part of a city
which grew up from a nice residential town to an
independent part of Northern Virginia," Fagelson
resolved. "Land use became more than an opportunity; it
needed to be controlled by law. Somebody had to help us
to grow – we were going from mud to asphalt – and
lawyers had to make sure that it was done
well."
"As for aging, I have good family genes
and will keep on doing what I am doing as best I can,"
Bernie concluded. "I have been lucky enough to have had
an easy life and a happy family."
Perhaps his is
the luckiest generation.
Writer Sarah Becker was
nominated as a Living Legend of Alexandria in
2007.