Larry Stroble

Larry J. Stroble A nationally recognized tax lawyer who was a guiding hand in legislation creating the Indiana Tax Court, passed away Thursday, March 26, 2015, after a long illness. He was 66 years old. He practiced state, local and federal income tax law for nearly 40 years with Barnes & Thornburg LLP in Indianapolis, and his four years as firm managing partner started it on a path of innovation and growth with the opening of its Chicago office in 1995. Today, Barnes & Thornburg lawyers serve clients through a dozen offices in Indiana and other major business centers from coast to coast. He was born February 2, 1949 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Indiana University in 1971, and served in the Indiana Air National Guard from 1971 to 1977. In 1976, He received a Master of Business Administration degree from Indiana University and his law degree from what is now the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Upon admission to the Indiana bar in 1976, He joined Barnes, Hickam Pantzer & Boyd (which later became Barnes & Thornburg) as an associate attorney in the firm's tax department. He was elected to the firm's partnership in 1983, and led the firm as a member of its Management Committee beginning in 1991 and later as its Managing Partner from 1993 through 1997. He chaired the firm's Corporate Department from 1997 through 2001, and continued to serve as a leader in the tax bar until his retirement in 2013. His low-key style, keen intellect and wry sense of humor were the hallmarks of his personal and professional relationships. As a lawyer, he was a vigorous advocate for taxpayers in controversies before the Internal Revenue Service, state and local taxing authorities, and state and federal courts. In 1990, he argued his first case before the United States Supreme Court, scoring a victory for Indianapolis Power & Light Company in a landmark case governing 150 other tax cases involving $300 million in federal income taxes. A valued counselor as well as a litigator, he provided strategic tax advice to businesses in tax planning and transactions, and to individuals contemplating estate planning and business formation. His contributions to tax law were recognized by his peers, who elected him to the American College of Tax Counsel, and as a Fellow of the American Bar Association and of the Indiana Bar Foundation. He chaired the Taxation Section of the Indianapolis Bar Association, and was active in the Taxation Sections of the American and Indiana State Bar Associations. The Indiana State Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Manufacturers Association sought his guidance as a member of their Taxation Committees, and the State Chamber honored him as its Volunteer of the Year in 2002. The Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, the state's only independent source of continuing research into the impact of state taxing and spending policies in Indiana, chose him for a key role on its Board of Directors. Interviewed by Indiana Lawyer upon his selection as a 2013 Leadership in Law Distinguished Barrister, he said his fantasy job if he weren't a lawyer would be to work as an investigative reporter. Asked to choose any lawyer from history to spend a day with, he picked Clarence Darrow "because he would have some interesting stories to tell" about his legendary role in the Scopes trial and his representation of Eugene Debs and Leopold and Loeb. If he could have one superpower, he said it would be "the power to think several steps ahead of everyone else." If he could pick a theme song for his life, it would be The Animals' "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." His legacy includes his work leading to the creation of the Indiana Tax Court, a specialized tribunal established in 1986 to decide state and local tax disputes that until then had been heard by generalist judges in the counties where the taxpayers lived or had their businesses. Lacking a statewide tax docket, taxpayers could not learn about pending or decided tax cases except by word of mouth. A county court decision was not precedent, and if appealed tax cases went to the Indiana Court of Appeals, whose panels did not always agree with each other on the same tax issue. He was instrumental in legislation creating the Indiana Tax Court, where all tax cases are assigned to a single judge with specialized experience in tax law, ensuring the development of a consistent, uniform and binding body of tax law. Appeals from the Tax Court go to the Indiana Supreme Court, thus shortening the time for a tax law ruling to become final and eliminating the possibility of conflicts between different Court of Appeals panels. He continued this effort by his work to develop the rules that governed practice before the Tax Court, and chaired the Indiana State Bar Association's Liaison Committee with the Tax Court from 1986 through 2008. A prolific writer on tax matters, he was the author of the Indiana chapter in the American Bar Association's Sales & Use Tax Deskbook and co-author of the Indiana chapter in the ABA's Property Tax Deskbook. He served on the editorial board of the Journal of Multistate Taxation. He was in demand as a speaker at continuing legal education seminars, sharing his knowledge with other lawyers at more than 30 seminars and institutes on topics ranging from taxation of damage awards in wrongful-death litigation, the difficulty of achieving fundamental tax restructuring, and using class-action lawsuits to litigate tax controversies. Rarely could he be found without a book or newspaper with him at all times. He also enjoyed running and competed in dozens of events over a 25 plus year span, including multiple Indiana Mini-Marathons and the Chicago Marathon in 1996. He is survived by his wife, Suzi Highlen Stroble; children, Mandi (Cory) Haffner, Ryan Stroble, Emily (Leo) Sze; grandchildren, Lydia, Vivian, Isla, Damien; parents, James and Evelyn Stroble and brother, Lynn(Cathy) Stroble. Visitation will be Monday, April 6, 2015 from 4 to 8 pm at Flanner and Buchanan-Broad Ripple. Services will be Tuesday, April 7, 2015 at 10 am at the funereal center. Memorial gifts may be made to the IU Simon Cancer Center for pancreatic cancer research. Please make checks payable to: IU Foundation and mail to IUF; PO Box 7072, Indianapolis, IN 46207-7072. Indicate "In memory of Larry Stroble" on the memo line. You may also make donations online at cancer.iu.edu/giving.