Russell Adams Freeman; Lawyer, Counsel for Security Pacific Bank

Russell Adams Freeman, 67, the last general counsel of Security Pacific Bank and its parent corporation, who helped draft codes for bankers. A native of Albany, N.Y., who was educated at Amherst College, Albany Law School and USC, Freeman was in the legal department of Security First National Bank, which became Security Pacific, from 1959 until it merged with Bank of America in 1992. Freeman, the bank’s executive vice president and attorney, then joined the Los Angeles-based law firm of O’Melveny & Myers as senior counsel. Freeman was coauthor of the California Bankers’ Guide to the Uniform Commercial Code, published by the California Bankers Assn., and California Commercial Law, published by the continuing education section of the State Bar of California. In 1986, Freeman became the first recipient of the California Bankers Assn.’s Almon B. McCallum Award for outstanding and meritorious service to the state banking industry. A strong proponent of education, Freeman taught at Pacific Coast Banking School, was a trustee of Flintridge Preparatory School and established a scholarship at Albany Law School in memory of his wife, Elizabeth, after her death in 1995. He was also a director of the Constitutional Rights Foundation. On March 16 in Ramona, Calif.