Cover Story / Harold Dondis
Suffering from asthma, Dondis went to Harvard Law School in a World War II- shrunken class of only 10. “He’d often tell people, ‘I didn’t have anything else to do, so I went to Harvard Law School,’ ” his friend and co-columnist FM Chris Chase said. Dondis’ class might have been small, but Harvard’s standards were still high. Only three of the original class graduated, Harold among them. Fresh out of law school in 1945 and looking for work at a time in America when
soldiers were coming home and Jewish attorneys were frequently blackballed by big city law firms, Harold was hired by John Rich, then the principal of what now is Rich May. Harold began playing in tournaments, ultimately reaching the rank of expert. In 1954, he married for the first time, to Donis Asnin, who became dean of Boston University School of Public Communication. She died in 1984. Characteristically, Dondis remained dedicated to Rich and the firm for the rest of his
life, working 16 hours a day for much of his 70-year career and reaching the rank of managing director. “Harold was devoted to Rich,” Claire said. “I’m a Roman Catholic and believe in heaven. Harold, well, he wasn’t so sure. But he’d often say to me, ‘I hope you’re right—I want to see John Rich again.’ ” A truth that was also a little tease—a Dondis trademark.
A brilliant mind, a loving heart Dedication and brilliance soon secured Dondis’ reputation as one of the nation’s top regulatory and utility attorneys. He helped redefine laws regarding eminent domain to facilitate bringing gas and electric services to consumers. But in an entirely different legal field, he also refashioned some key estate planning and trust laws, at times finding solutions to problems that had stumped whole teams of specialists. His Rich May associates relied on his intellect and comprehensive legal recall. When someone needed a prece dent, Harold could from memory cite the relevant cases going back years. The firm’s library is named in his honor. Devotion remained a byword. He continued to study every U.S. Supreme Court
decision in depth, sometimes unnerving his tournament chess opponents by reading fat legal briefs during a game. He even argued a case before the high court in 1976, opposing a federal oil tariff, but was on the wrong side of a 9-0 decision. That experience transposed into another favorite gag, that he was the last person to successfully unify the Supreme Court. But it wasn’t just his legal brilliance that endeared him to his co-workers. “He helped
people out and never treated anyone like hired help,” Claire remembered. “He was friendly with everyone. At lunch, he didn’t just sit at the executive table. He wandered around and talked to people. Everyone loved him.” Claire should know. That’s how the two met and fell in love.
A half-century of columns Dondis wrote the Boston Globe chess column for more than 50 years. He began in
1964, when Americans were still reeling from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. At a time when nearly everyone still read the morning newspaper, the Boston Globe was world-renowned. Harold wrote his first piece for the paper the same year he achieved his celebrated victory over Fischer (see sidebar, “Beating Fischer”) and over the decades covered the inauguration of every world champion since Tigran Petrosian and every American champ since Bobby, running through a succession of games editors— longtime friend FM John Curdo, GM Patrick Wolff, and FM Chase, who continues the column on his own. “I was honored when Harold asked me to replace John Curdo to annotate games for his Boston Globe chess column,” Wolff, a two-time U.S. champ, said. “We worked together for over a dozen years. Harold was a really wonderful person.” By the time Chase became his writing partner, Dondis was, by any chronological
standard, elderly—although the word didn’t ever really seem to apply to the spritely nonagenarian. “Harold had a medical theory,” Chase said. “If you can spell Alzheimer’s, you don’t have it. So sometimes as we’d ride in the car, I’d ask him to spell it. ‘Just checking,’ I’d say.” When the Globe canceled the column in 2000, the outcry was so great that the paper
brought Dondis back with two columns a week. In 2014, following a wave of similar column-killings, the Globe tried again to bury chess. This time Chase created a Facebook page to elicit support. The social media campaign led to the 92-year-old columnist being reinstated. “He was very, very happy when the Globe came to its senses!” Chase said.
22 April 2016 | Chess Life
“I lost a very dear friend and a truly saintly man. Harold and I worked together for 34 years. Both law and chess were close to his heart, and he had wonderful stories to share. Harold founded the US Chess Trust. He was modest, gentle, kind, and extremely generous. Harold was my lawyer, my mentor, a poet and author. I will miss him more than anyone will know. Harold is an angel who touched anyone he met. His spirit will live on forever.” —BARBARA DEMARO, FORMER US CHESS TRUST MANAGING DIRECTOR
“Harold and I first became acquainted when I was elected president of US Chess. I knew he was a prominent Boston attorney and the person leading the Chess Trust. He picked me up and returned me to the airport for the Alburt-Short match in Foxboro in 1985. He had a sporty car with great handling. A Honda. We spent a good 20 minutes on why he loved the car and it became my next purchase. In fact, I bought three in total until the kids came along and I left that brand. Thanks Harold. He loved chess and it was always a pleasure to see him at the board. RIP Harold Dondis. And thanks for being a Renaissance man.” —E. STEVEN DOYLE, FORMER US CHESS PRESIDENT
“I knew Harold for more than half a century, and never have I met anyone who loved chess as much as he did or gave as much to the game as a player, a columnist, and a most generous benefactor. Most of the games in our own long rivalry meld together in my mind at this point, but I’ll never forget the very first one in a tournament at the Manhattan Chess Club in New York
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