Harry L. Dunn; Ex-O’Melveny & Myers Partner

Harry Lippincott Dunn, senior retired partner at the Los Angeles law firm of O’Melveny & Myers and a pioneer of American student exchange programs, died Sunday at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena.

Dunn, whose death was attributed to natural causes, was 94.

In a memorandum distributed through the firm Monday, Dunn was described by Warren Christopher, chairman of the firm, as “one of the finest corporate lawyers of his generation” and the “main architect” of the firm’s corporation department.

Born in Santa Barbara in 1894, Dunn graduated from UC Berkeley and attended Columbia University’s journalism and law schools before interrupting his academic career to become a relief worker in Belgium during World War I.

He later volunteered with the American Field Service, working as an ambulance driver attached to French army divisions.

Dunn’s relief work won him the French Croix de Guerre and his stint as an ambulance driver later sparked his lifelong involvement with American Field Service’s foreign student exchange program.

Returning from the war, Dunn obtained his law degree from Harvard University. He worked for three years as an attorney in New York, then joined O’Melveny & Myers, becoming a partner in 1927. Dunn stayed with the firm until his retirement in 1964, becoming known as a prolific author of legal memos.

In addition to his work with American Field Service, Dunn also served as chairman of the Los Angeles Bar Assn.’s Ethics Committee, director and vice president of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council and director of the boards of General Telephone Co. of California and Lockheed Aircraft Corp.

Survivors include his son, Dr. Peter Dunn of Pasadena; daughter, Priscilla Flynn of Pasadena, and eight grandchildren.

A funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Friday at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena.