David L. Raish

David L. Raish, who died in 2022 at age 75, was a respected speaker, writer, and practitioner under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and was inducted into the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (the “College”) in 2000 as a Charter Fellow.

David attended Yale University (B.A. in 1969), where he sang with the Whiffenpoofs, the world’s oldest collegiate a cappella group. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1973 where he was editor of the law review.

David was a law clerk to the Honorable James R. Browning in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1973-1974). He was at Ropes & Gray LLP in Boston starting in 1974 and found his home in the Tax and Benefits Department. College Fellow Russell Gaudreau who worked at Ropes with Dave for over 30 years noted, “There was no question from the outset that Dave was going to be a great benefits lawyer. He had both the temperament and the intellect. Clients not only respected his expertise but they liked him as an individual.”

David concentrated his work in retirement plans, deferred compensation, and other employee benefits and focused mostly on helping colleges and universities, health-care organizations, and other non-profit organizations with their employee benefit plans. Gaudreau recalled that Dave was Harvard's employee benefits lawyer for most of his entire career.

For several years in the 1980s, Dave practiced in the Ropes DC office and lived in Maryland. While in DC, he started a benefits lunch group comprised of benefits lawyers which continued to exist for well over 20 years. Dave returned to the Boston office around 1990.

David served as head of the firm’s Employee Benefits practice group for many years. In addition to his client skills, Dave was an outstanding mentor for younger benefits lawyers at the firm.

A leader in the employee benefits field, he was a member, council director, and vice chair of the American Bar Association, Tax Section. David also was a frequent speaker for American Law Institute-American Bar Association, and was planning co-chair for its annual program on benefit plans of tax-exempt and governmental employers. Co-chair and College Fellow Lou Mazawey recalled that the true pleasure of collaborating with him planning the program finding him to be a “brilliant and soft-spoken expert in our field.”

Sharing his expertise also extended to writing several books and publications. He was author of Compensation and Benefits for Key Employees of Tax-Exempt Organizations (Little Brown & Co. 1995). Many practitioners relied on his scholarship in the regularly-updated Cafeteria Plans (Tax Management Portfolio 397) and Cash or Deferred Arrangements (Tax Management Portfolio 358) (published by the Bureau of National Affairs (later, Bloomberg Industry Group)). He served on the Board of Advisors of the Journal of Taxation of Employee Benefits and on the Editorial Advisory Board for the American Bar Association publication, The Tax Lawyer.

David continued his singing after university. He was a talented musician with a beautiful tenor voice. For 25 years, he was a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the official, all-volunteer chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He also gave back to the community including having served as a trustee of the Winsor School in Boston.

Known for his expertise and excellent judgment especially in non-profits and their plans, David generously shared his knowledge with others. An accomplished leader with impressive scholarship, David also was described by colleagues as a delightful friend and a terrific human who was extraordinarily kind and generous.

Photo Source: The Decade Book, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel 2000-2010