Roswell B. Perkins, 92, long-time summer resident of Little Compton, died on Sunday, March 10, 2019, in New York City.

Born May 21, 1926, in Boston, and raised in Brookline, Mass., the son of Paul Franklin Perkins and Agnes Leeds Burchard Perkins, he was a graduate of Pomfret School (1943), Harvard College (NROTC/ Ensign) (1947) and Harvard Law School (1949). 

Predeceased by his late wife, Joan Titcomb Perkins and his brother, Paul F. Perkins, he is survived by his wife, Susan Harfield Perkins; his children, Roswell B. Perkins, Jr. (Marian), Laura Perkins (Gary Waldron) and Nancy Perkins; his grandchildren Renny and Samantha (Brian Doyle) Waldron, James and Christie (Bernardo Langer) Perkins; great-grandson, Russell Doyle; stepchildren, Amanda Leness (Keith Gubbin), Susan Leness Gilbert and Tony Leness (Katharine) and step- grandchildren, Jack Gubbin, Max, Eliza and Olivia Gilbert, Lucy, George and Ogden Leness; sister-in-law Mary Perkins; nieces Zizi LaCava (John), Bettina Mueller (Ken McCarthy), Augusta Perkins Stanislaw (Joseph); nephews Paul (Nancy) and Warren Perkins (Nancy) and their families.

Mr. Perkins was a resident of Manhattan and spent summers as 11th generation in Little Compton, Rhode Island; Horsehead Island in mid-coast Maine (1976-2009); and Quogue, New York (2008-2019). He enjoyed playing tennis and sailing, having sailed in six Newport-to-Bermuda, two Marblehead-to-Halifax and two Annapolis-to-Newport races and cruised the coast of Maine. In 1984, he became the first president of the Friends of Sakonnet Lighthouse, with the mission of restoring it.

He was a member of the Sakonnet Golf Club, Sakonnet Yacht Club and Warren’s Point Beach Club.

After Harvard Law, Mr. Perkins joined Debevoise, Plimpton & McLean, as it was then known. He became a partner in 1957 and retired in 2001. During those 52 years, he contributed enormously to the firm, to the broader profession and to the public.

Mr. Perkins became a senior leader of Debevoise’s corporate practice over the course of his more than half century career. He practiced across a remarkably broad range, including corporate finance, securities, investment funds, M&A, project finance, venture capital and corporate governance.  

In 1997, Mr. Perkins initiated and spearheaded the firm’s Russia practice which remains, decades later, one of the leading law practices in Russia. 

He served as the first resident partner of the firm’s Moscow office and led the office from late 1997-2001. During those years, he wrote extensively on corporate governance in Russia and became a recognized authority in that field.

Mr. Perkins was also a model of dedication to public service in the profession and in government. From 1951 to 1952, he served as President of Youth for Eisenhower, which later merged into Citizens for Eisenhower. In 1953, he was Chair of the New York Young Republicans Club and Assistant Counsel to the Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (the “Kefauver Committee”).

At the age of 27, he became Assistant Secretary in President Eisenhower's brand new Department of Health Education and Welfare (DHEW). It was at DHEW where he met Nelson Rockefeller. Mr. Perkins served as Governor Rockefeller's first general counsel (1958-1959). Rockefeller asked Perkins to create the domestic policy platform for his campaign for the 1964 Presidential election.

In the course of his practice, Mr. Perkins served on numerous committees of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the New York State Bar Association. He was director and secretary of the New York Urban Coalition in 1967 and co-chair of the National Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law from 1973 to 1975.

He also served as President of the American Law Institute (ALI) from 1980 to 1993 and as Chairman of the Council from 1993 to 2008. During his presidency he played a leading role in the Institute’s 12-year landmark project on corporate governance and in 2008, he received their Distinguished Service Award. 

Mr. Perkins received a Special Merit Citation of the American Judicature Society in 1989, the Harvard Law School Association Award in 1994 and the Fifty-Year Award of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation in 2002. He received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Bates College in 1988. Mr. Perkins was a Past Trustee of Pomfret and Brearley Schools, Salzburg Global Seminar, and the Commonwealth Fund. He was a Past Director of Fiduciary Trust Co. Int’l and of Bowery Savings Bank.

He was President of the Harvard Alumni Association (1970-1971) and President of the Harvard Club of NYC (1975-1977). He was the very first Chairman of the Board of the School of American Ballet (1975-1980).

Mr. Perkins’s memorial service will be held on Monday, April 29, at 11 a.m. in New York City. Those interested in attending should send a note to rodperkinsservice@gmail.com.In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to the School of American Ballet, 165 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023 or to the American Law Institute, 4025 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.