Page 53 - Alumni Horae: Vol. 94, No. 3 Spring 2014

Judge Knight’s experience in the court-
room, where civil cases could take as long
as five years to reach trial, inspired him
to leave the security of a judgeship in 1979
and open a one-man mediation practice
in Santa Ana, Calif. Judicial Arbitration
and Mediation Services Inc. (JAMS) offered
what was then an emerging concept called
alternative dispute resolution (ADR). At
that time, arbitration and mediation were
rarely chosen voluntarily by attorneys, but
Judge Knight believed he could convince
his peers and their clients to embrace the
pace of private resolution. From its small
start, JAMS has grown to 26 offices in the
U.S., London, and Toronto, with affiliates
in Italy, the Netherlands, and Ireland, and
is the world’s largest private ADR provider.
After his retirement in 1999, Judge Knight
remained active on the ADR board. He was
most proud of creating the JAMS Foun-
dation, the largest provider of grants to
nonprofits in the dispute resolution field,
and the JAMS Society, through which JAMS
associates have performed thousands
of hours of pro bono work. In 2009, the
JAMS Foundation established the Warren
Knight Award.
Judge Knight lectured extensively on
ADR in the United States and Europe,
traveled to China with the “People to
People” delegation, published numerous
articles and books on the subject, and
wrote arbitration rules and clauses for
use by businesses, insurance companies,
and private attorneys. He was the recip-
ient of many awards, including the Lifetime
Achievement Award from the American
College of Civil Trial Mediators.
Judge Knight will be remembered by
his friends and colleagues as a down-to-
earth mentor who was incredibly generous
with his time and a teacher who never
missed an opportunity to learn something
new himself. He possessed the ideal dis-
position for a mediator; a comforting
presence, superior listening skills, a sharply
honed sense of justice, and an infectious
sense of humor. His lifelong commitment
to conflict resolution has inspired new
generations of lawyers to view ADR as
both essential and commonplace.
Judge Knight spent 10 years of his semi-
retirement in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he
enjoyed fly fishing, hiking, and making new
friends. He was passionate about travel
and loved planning new adventures. More
recently, he lived in California, where he
worked on his family genealogy and com-
pleted a book for his children. He also
became a mentor in the Newport/Mesa
ProLiteracy Program at the Newport
Beach Public Library, where he mentored
two students.
Judge Knight is survived by his wife,
Carolyn; five children; and eight grand-
children.
1948
Robert Milligan McLane
devoted husband,
father, and friend,
died January 18,
2014, in Locust
Valley, N.Y., at the
age of 83.
The youngest
child of Edith Gibb
Maxwell and Allan
McLane of the
Form of 1912, he was born on February 2,
1930, in New York City. He prepared for
St. Paul’s at St. Bernard’s School on the
Upper East Side of Manhattan. In addition
to his father, Mr. McLane followed his
grandfather, Allan McLane (Form of 1881),
and his uncle, John L. McLane (Form of
1918), to Millville.
At SPS, he was a member of the Scientific
Association, the Missionary Society, and
the Glee Club. He wrote for the Pelican.
He enjoyed football, hockey, and baseball,
and was known around campus as “enthus-
iastic and friendly.”
Mr. McLane moved on to Yale University
in the fall of 1948 and later served in the
U.S. Navy for two years, before beginning
his professional career with Marsh and
McLennan Companies in New York City.
Mr. McLane spent his entire career with
Marsh and McLennan, an insurance
brokerage firm, retiring as senior vice
president in 1994.
Mr. McLane served on the boards of
Charles Pratt & Co., the Good Hope Corp-
oration, Greenpoint Savings Bank, Green-
wood Cemetery, and the Piping Rock Club.
He also served on the vestry of St. John’s
of Lattingham, N.Y. He was an avid fisher-
man and enjoyed golf, racquet sports, and
upland game hunting. He was a true family
man and devoted friend.
Mr. McLane was predeceased by his
wife of 54 years, Camilla Merritt McLane,
and his brother, Allan McLane. He is sur-
vived by his children, Nina Burchfield and
Robert M. McLane Jr.; his grandchildren,
William, Camilla, and Jennifer Burchfield
and Robert III, Allison, and Nicholas
McLane; and his sister, Edith Gibb Edson.
1949
Nicholas Sellers
who built his life
around public
service, mixing a
long career as a
lawyer and judge
with work in the
military, in the
classroom, and in
national politics,
died on February 8,
2014, at a retirement community outside
of Philadelphia.
Mr. Sellers was born on May 23, 1932,
to Lester Hoadley Sellers and Therese
Tyler Sellers of Philadelphia. Although
he enjoyed his time at St. Paul’s, he spent
most of his life in his home city, attend-
ing the Haverford School and, later, the
University of Pennsylvania, where he
earned his undergraduate degree and
two law degrees.
As a student at St. Paul’s, Mr. Sellers
was “a good citizen…and boy who could
be trusted at all times,” according to a
letter written by one of his teachers. His
citizenship soon grew to encompass a
larger community and, in occasional
letters to St. Paul’s administrators, he
invited current students to become
“involved in public duty.”
His own sense of duty manifested itself
in many ways throughout his life. After
graduating from law school, Mr. Sellers
worked in the District Attorney’s office in
Philadelphia, a post he left to enlist in the
U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Mr.
Sellers served in the Army Special Forces
for two years, leading a battalion near the
Cambodian border. He was wounded twice
in battle and earned the Bronze Star. He
continued his military service in the Army
reserves and retired as a general in the
Pennsylvania National Guard.
Mr. Sellers was twice elected as a district
judge in Delaware County and was a mem-
ber of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s 53