The Alabama Law community mourns the passing of a cherished alumnus—Edward Maurice Rogers Sr.
Rogers graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1949 and ran a solo practice out of Ensley, Alabama, for over 70 years. He served on the Law School Foundation Board of Directors in 2002-2003 and continued his engagement with the Board as an emeritus member until his death. In 1999, Rogers established the Maurice Rogers Endowed Scholarship to support Alabama Law students who are interested in solo or small-firm practice—many have benefited from Roger’s generosity in creating this endowed fund.
Roger’s son, Edward (Ed) Maurice Rogers, Jr., is also an Alabama Law graduate (Class of 1984). Ed co-founded the Law School’s Washington DC externship program in 2012—serving as an adjunct professor for the program—and he has made significant contributions to his father’s scholarship.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to Ed and the rest of Rogers’ family, friends, and clients during this difficult time. He will be profoundly missed.
Read more about Rogers in an obituary written by his grandson, Haley M. Rogers, Harvard Law School Class of 2025:
My grandfather, Maurice Rogers, passed away peacefully on August 20, 2024, at his Hoover home and in the company of family and loved ones. He was 98 years old.
Maurice graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1949 and practiced law as a solo practitioner out of his office in Ensley, Alabama for over 70 years, with personal injury law being his primary and most lucrative practice area.
I am proud to be a third-generation law student, following in the footsteps of both my father (Class of 1984) and grandfather. Of course, my grandfather’s journey to law school was not nearly as straightforward as mine. Growing up during the Great Depression, he spent the first 19 years of his life sleeping on an unheated covered porch which he shared with his brother. As the son of a streetcar motorman and a school teacher, he grew up having never met a lawyer and believing that the legal profession was inaccessible to people like him. This perception changed after World War II, when G.I. benefits made financing a legal education possible for him and countless other servicemen.
When I asked how he came about deciding to attend law school after being discharged from the US Army Air Corps in 1945, he described the decision as the result of a “series of indifferent and ignorant moves.” He elaborated that despite average grades at Birmingham-Southern College, he had the choice between pursuing a degree in accounting or law. Initially leaning towards accounting, he changed course after an unsatisfactory meeting with the dean of the program and spontaneously signed up for the law school instead.
His first two weeks of class were enjoyable until he asked what he later described as “the dumbest question in the history of law school.” When a professor mentioned that students would surely understand the material after “three years,” my grandfather, thinking law school was a two-year program, asked a classmate to clarify. Learning that law school was indeed three years, he feared financial ruin as he had enrolled with only one year of G.I. benefits remaining. In defiance of law school rules, he began working full-time selling insurance and later paper between classes to make ends meet. When discovered, he was summoned by the Dean, who, after hearing his situation, allowed him to graduate in August 1949. At 23 years old, he was the youngest in his class of 198 graduates.
The following year, Maurice returned to Birmingham and opened the law practice that he would run with great success for 73 years. In December 1950, he married the vivacious and beautiful Peggy Williams, an Auburn student and fellow graduate of Ensley High School. The two immediately made a formidable team, with Peggy working during the first five years of their marriage to put food on the table as Maurice began the arduous task of getting a solo law practice off the ground.
At the age of 22, just as I was readying to start a legal education of my own, I asked Maurice if he had any lessons for me. His answer was simple yet profound: try to think logically in life just as you do in practice, ensure contracts state who, what, when, where and why, uphold honesty and integrity, and finally, if you like having hair and intend to live a long life, avoid cases centered on a child custody battle.
Although Maurice never once had a lazy day, his life was rich with more than just his law practice. He was a lifelong baseball fan and later developed passions for golf and woodworking. Above all, Maurice cherished time with his family. He and Peggy took immense pride in their three children, each of whom got their degree-an accomplishment Maurice counted among his greatest. Their home in Hoover has been the spiritual heart of the Rogers family for many decades and has hosted countless gatherings where Maurice delighted in sharing stories, telling jokes, and imparting life lessons on willing and unwilling audiences alike.
A lifelong and devout member of the Church of Christ, faith and community were central to his life. He served as a municipal judge in Hoover for twelve years and, together with Peggy, established a scholarship at the University of Alabama Law School, which, over several decades, has helped dozens of students achieve their law school dreams.
Maurice’s life was a tapestry of rich experiences, woven with the dry humor, self-confidence, and resilience of a man who had lived through the Great Depression and a world war. He was a storyteller, a prankster and joker, a proud husband and father, and a loyal friend to many. But to me, he was everything you could hope for in a grandfather. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of times spent with the man his nine grandchildren affectionately knew as “Mawa.” Whether it was wrestling matches on his living room floor or spontaneous adventures to search for abandoned golf balls that only he would still find usable (he is a Depression baby after all), Mawa was always a source of joy, wisdom, and boundless fun.
Maurice was predeceased by his four siblings and is survived by his beloved wife Peggy of 73 years, their three children-Marsha Rogers, Ed (Patti) Rogers, and Carol Ann Rogers-along with nine grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorials may be made to The University of Alabama School of Law Foundation for the Maurice Rogers Endowed Scholarship at Box 870382, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 or at http://www.giving.ua.edu/.
