Picture from Jan Stuurmans Star Tribune Obituary
The Star Tribune noted the death of Jan Stuurmans this past Friday. Few who knew Jan Stuurmans will be surprised that there are not very many photos of him on-line. Jan was most definitely from the pre-digital age. (I only knew him to have an “aol.com” email address.) And few will be surprised to hear that he died from lung cancer since, as far as I could tell, Jan was a life-long smoker.
Jan Stuurmans, Washburn High, Class of 1959
Many, if not most, who had the good fortune of encountering Jan professionally, will miss him and long enjoy their memories of him.
Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to work with Jan Stuurmans a lot. But I retained him as an expert in a legal malpractice case some years ago. He certainly had the requisite expertise to offer an opinion on the appropriate standard of care in the community of Minnesota civil litigators. In addition, he was generous, gentle, knowledgeable, methodical, and thorough. But maybe the greatest of his attributes was his cool, level-headed, “seen-it-all” disposition. He seemed to take everything in stride and with a touch of humor. I hope many of us can and will emulate Jan for years to come. At least I can celebrate the chance I got to learn a bit from him.