Stepping up for a friend

Paul Voegelin, with his family, from left, wife Oriente and daughters Tiana and Sabrina. The chief operating officer for Sheehan Phinney died in December after a long battle with brain cancer. (Courtesy photo)

Paul Voegelin didn’t know much about the legal business when he joined Sheehan Phinney in 2017 as chief operating officer.

That was by design. The partners of the Manchester firm were looking for someone with a fresh perspective and were impressed by Voegelin’s track record with biotech and internet service companies.

It proved to be a smart move. “We had great success as a firm with Paul at the helm of the operational side as COO, and he developed a lot of friendships,” attorney David McGrath says.

“People just liked him and respected him tremendously.”

Voegelin, 60, died in December after a long battle with brain cancer. The firm has been working on a fundraising campaign in his honor.

His loss was a professional and personal blow to Sheehan Phinney, where the Woburn, Mass., resident was celebrated as much for his people skills as his business acumen. The funny guy with the quick wit made sure all the firm’s employees felt welcome, regardless of where they fell in the hierarchy.

“He was always looking out for people who might feel as if they were without power in the firm,” McGrath says. “It was very important to him, for example, that some new employee in the copy center felt valued and respected.”

Voegelin’s nonlegal background led him to challenge admin directors to rethink office procedures, says Kelly Trudel, director of business development.

“He made us think differently about processes that we thought were, you know, fine and just were chugging along, so I appreciated that,” she says. “And I really loved working with him. It was a really hard loss.”

Members of the firm have been taking on challenges to raise $25,000 in Voegelin’s memory for cancer research at Dana Farber.

In August, McGrath and fellow attorney Chris Candon hiked the 30-mile Pemigewasset Loop in the White Mountains.

They shared stories about Voegelin during the 16-hour trek.

“It was a reminder about the kind of camaraderie and fun that we always had with Paul,” Candon says, recalling a post-hike note he shared with colleagues. “If he had been on the email chain, he would have really enjoyed and kind of laughed about some of the excursions and some of the side notes that happened for us during the process, and gladly would have poked fun at us along the way.”

Attorney Mike Lambert, who took over as president of the firm in February, will be soaking in an outdoor ice bath every day in January at Walden Pond, a half-mile from his home in Concord, Mass.

Lambert is used to gathering with friends to brave the frigid water on a weekend morning.

“But doing it 30 days in a row is tough.

I think it will require some discipline and some mental strength,” says Lambert, who notes it was McGrath’s idea but that he accepted the challenge. “I’ll record it and do my three minutes a day for 30 days and think about Paul every time I do it.”

Making your own fun

Voegelin, who worked in business operations for more than 20 years, was employed full time while earning an MBA from Northeastern, which accepted him despite his lack of an undergraduate degree. He began his career as a hairdresser and operated businesses with his wife, Oriente.

“I always loved that fact about him, because he was such a creative thinker,” says his daughter Tiana Voegelin, an attorney at a New York law firm. “It shows in his career trajectory. He was just very intelligent and very creative, which I think is a rare combination.”

He also was extremely supportive of his two daughters’ careers.

“I made partner just last year in December at Paul, Weiss, and my partnership speech was all about him and how it wouldn’t have happened without him,” she says.

Sabrina Voegelin, a social worker with the Cambridge Police Department, originally wanted to be a doctor but struggled with pre-med and chose a different path — one her father endorsed without exception.

“He took me to a Red Sox game one day and just said, ‘You know, I’m not going to think any less of you. If you don’t feel that this is the right path, I support you in whatever you do, and you’re going to do it just as good,’” she says.

Paul Voegelin also taught his daughters that fun doesn’t arrive on its own.

You have to create it. Even a trip to Home Depot can be an adventure. “There’s no such thing as a fun situation. There are situations that can be made fun,” Tiana Voegelin says. “And he carried that through to everything.”

Including the workplace. “I think that’s how he touched a lot of people at Sheehan Phinney, too, because he just brought this infectious positivity.”