(December 8, 2009, CENTURY CITY) – Edward Sanders, a Reed Smith attorney whose contributions included serving as senior advisor to President Jimmy Carter, passed away at home Monday morning. He was 87.

“Ed was an amazing presence at our firm,” said Gregory B. Jordan, Reed Smith’s Global Managing Partner. “He will be missed, but his dedication, spirit and generosity to others will not be forgotten.”

Sanders served as Senior Advisor to President Carter and the Secretary of State on the Middle East from 1978-1980. During that time, historic Camp David Accords were signed between Egypt and Israel.

Sanders was at Camp David when president of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, with President Jimmy Carter and Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin, came to an agreement. In an interview with the Daily Journal in 2006, Sanders said, “There was a sudden clap of thunder. And it was like God was looking down and saying this was a great thing."

When President Carter traveled to the Middle East the next year to finalize the treaty, Sanders accompanied him. Two weeks later, on March, 26, 1979, the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty was signed by Sadat and Begin at the White House. The signing was a historic moment in Jewish-Arab relations, marking the first time an Arab country officially recognized Israel’s existence and opening the way for Egypt and Israel to establish diplomatic relations.

Prior to joining the Carter administration, Sanders was a partner at Irell & Manella for 28 years.  Upon his return from Washington in 1980 he, along with Irwin Barnet, Russell Goldsmith, and son Michael Sanders, founded the law firm subsequently known as Sanders, Barnet, Goldman, Simons & Mosk, which merged with Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May in September 2000.  Crosby Heafey later merged with Reed Smith, and Sanders became an active attorney in the firm’s Century City office.

Sanders’ practice focused on corporate, securities, business planning and mergers and acquisitions. He represented and counseled individuals, corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships.

Sanders was also active in a wide range of Jewish and general community activities, and national and local Democratic political affairs. Before and after his time in Washington, Sanders was heavily involved with the National Conference of Christians and Jews (now called the National Conference for Community and Justice). He helped lead the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and served on the President's Commission on the Holocaust, formed by Carter in 1978 to recommend a national memorial to the victims of the Nazis' campaign to exterminate Jews during World War II. After he returned to California, he became chairman of the Los Angeles Urban League.

Sanders received numerous awards including the Los Angeles County Bar Association 1997, Louis M. Brown Conflict Prevention Award and the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the Hebrew Union College. He was a 1943 graduate of University of California Los Angeles and served in World War II.

Sanders is survived by his wife of more than 63 years, Rose Eisen Sanders. He is also survived by his son, Michael Sanders, who worked with his father at Reed Smith’s Century City office, his daughter, Susan Sanders Witkow, and four grandchildren.

"My wife once said, when you die, I'll put on your tombstone 'He did everything he wanted to do,’” Sanders said in the interview with the Daily Journal. “And I did, and I continue to.”

He paused for a moment. "Be careful I don't sound too boastful," he told the paper. "Grateful is the best word."

Services will be held this Thursday, December 10th at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, 6001 W. Centinela Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90045; at 2:00 p.m. in the Large Chapel.

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Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with nearly 1600 lawyers in 23 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises.  Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and other high-stakes matters; deliver regulatory counsel; and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions.  Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising, technology and media, shipping, energy trade and commodities, real estate, manufacturing, and education.  For more information, visit reedsmith.com.

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