– Photo by John Meiu
Oakland County Probate Court Judge Elizabeth Pezzetti (right) and Friend of the Court Referee Betty Lowenthal will be saluted at a joint retirement party November 16 at the Iroquois Club in Bloomfield Hills. The event is open to well-wishers and will begin at 5 p.m.
By Tom Kirvan
Legal News
In terms of partings, it will be a package deal when retirement comes calling later this year for two of the most well known and highly regarded members of the Oakland County legal profession.
As such, it seems only fitting that the two – Oakland County Probate Judge Elizabeth Pezzetti and Friend of the Court Referee Betty Lowenthal – will be saluted together during a retirement party the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 16, at the Iroquois Club in Bloomfield Hills.
Longtime friends and colleagues, Pezzetti and Lowenthal have worked in concert since 2001 and vowed to retire together when the time arrived.
“I can’t imagine working without Judge Pezzetti,” Lowenthal said recently during a joint interview in the judge’s chambers at the Oakland County Courthouse. “It wouldn’t be the same.”
The “same” was said by Pezzetti, who was appointed to the Probate Court in 2001 and cannot seek re-election to the bench this year because of the state’s age restriction for jurists.
“We are a great team, and I have been fortunate to have someone of Betty’s background and experience in family law to assist me all these years,” said Pezzetti. “We have worked hand-in-hand very well.”
Lowenthal, who spent much of her career in the practice of matrimonial law, was president of the Oakland County Bar Association when Pezzetti was appointed to the Probate Court 16 years ago by then Governor John Engler.
“Betty was there for my swearing in ceremony and I can remember that the last thing she said to me was, ‘You go, girl!’ I’ve tried to keep that in mind ever since,” Pezzetti said with a smile.
A former chief judge of the Oakland County Probate Court, Pezzetti splits her time in the Probate Court and the Family Division on a range of taxing legal matters, including “jurisdiction over estates and trusts, adult and minor guardianships and conservatorships, mental health cases,” and divorce and custody issues.
Throughout her time on the bench, Pezzetti has been a proponent of reforming the state’s mental health system, contending that for years it has fueled a “vicious cycle” of abuse and neglect. It was a point she made repeatedly during her “State of the Court” addresses as chief judge.
“We, in the probate courts, are seeing the same people month after month, year after year, without an end in sight,” she said during a 2009 address to the Oakland County Board of Commissioners. “I have tremendous compassion for those who suffer from mental illness and we need to find a better way to ensure that they receive the help they need.”
Her compassion for those suffering from mental illness can be traced to her early interest in pursuing a career in medicine. She was a pre-med major at Drake University in Des Moines, Ia., before transferring to Wayne State University for her senior year of studies, eventually earning a bachelor of science in biology.
More than two decades after receiving her undergraduate degree from Wayne State, Pezzetti donned cap and gown again in 1986, obtaining her juris doctor from the downtown Detroit law school. She graduated from Wayne Law with honors and was a senior associate editor of the law review. She then landed a job with Dickinson Wright, beginning her legal career in the corporate and banking fields before shifting to employment, media, and school law.
A native of Wilmington, N.C., Pezzetti grew up in South Dakota, the oldest of three children. Her husband, Tom, spent his entire 40-year career with Ford Motor Co., working for its Tractor Operations in various sales and marketing capacities before retiring. The couple has three children, two of whom have followed their mother into the legal profession. They also have seven grandchildren.
Several of her grandchildren are expected to speak at the retirement party, sharing the microphone with Linda Hallmark, chief judge of the Oakland County Probate Court, and Dickinson Wright attorney Ed Pappas, a past president of the State Bar of Michigan.
In turn, Lowenthal will hear retirement well-wishes on November 16 from her self-described “Irish mafia” of Maura Corrigan, former chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court; Don McGinnis, past president of the Oakland County Bar Association; and former State Bar President Tom Ryan and his wife, attorney Colleen Ronayne.
They undoubtedly will laud Lowenthal for enjoying a distinguished legal career that traces its roots to the classroom, where she was a junior high and then special education teacher. Her career in education, which included jobs in Detroit and at a private school in suburban Toronto, eventually motivated her to seek a higher-paying field where she “could still make a difference” in the lives of others.
She found it in the legal world, obtaining her juris doctor in 1979 from the former Detroit College of Law, now MSU College of Law. Lowenthal earned her degree by attending classes at night, working during the day as a clerk for Gene Schnelz, a district judge in Novi before becoming a member of the Oakland County Circuit Court bench.
“I met Gene Schnelz and my whole life turned around,” said Lowenthal, a 1967 graduate of Michigan State University. “He took me under his wing and gave me the opportunity to learn and the encouragement to succeed.”
She also credits her late brother-in-law, attorney Marvin Shwedel, with encouraging her to attend law school as she mulled her career options while teaching in Canada.
“He thought I had the skill set and the temperament to do well in the law,” she said of Shwedel, who enjoyed a successful career as a family law attorney before dying unexpectedly in 2014.
As a law school student, Lowenthal planned to specialize in medical malpractice work, but surprisingly changed course into matrimonial law following graduation. She spent two decades in the high-stakes world of divorce law before joining the Friend of the Court operation.
“This career chose me,” she said of her area of legal expertise.
Pezzetti is delighted that it did, praising Lowenthal for helping guide her through the early learning curve in handling family law matters.
“I wasn’t afraid to ask her stupid questions,” Pezzetti said with a chuckle. “I was fortunate that she was patient and understanding as I learned the ropes.”
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