Bernard Siegel, B.A. ’72, J.D. ’75
BERNARD SIEGEL, ’75
Alumni
Embraces a BRAVE
By Catharine Skipp
MI A MI LAW maga zi ne | FA LL 201 4
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n first grade, Bernard Siegel wanted to be a scientist. It was a germ that would lie dormant well past his years studying political science and history at the University of Miami and through Miami Law. Never mind that he hung out a shingle and was a 27year courtroom attorney; co-owned a minor league basketball team; or was Commissioner and owner of an “indie” wrestling promotion. One day, the germ would reappear, and Siegel would be the right man in the right place at the right time. On December 26, 2002, a group, backed by a U.F.O. sect that believes life was cloned by extraterrestrials, claimed they had cloned Baby Eve, the world’s first human clone. The company made the announcement at a hotel in Florida, thereby setting off a global media firestorm. Siegel had an interest in cloning, especially after his daughter had penned a science paper
on Dolly, the first cloned mammal. As a member of the bar, Siegel knew that any person aware of an exploited or endangered child could petition the court to appoint a temporary guardian to ascertain the child’s safety. His instincts, honed in professional wrestling with such characters as the Cuban Assassin, had taught him how to spot a fake. Siegel had fought and beat cancer in the 1970s and from that would come a heightened determination. “I would take certain risks if I thought they were right, and I had the ability to do them,” he said. Method. Motive. Opportunity. It didn’t hurt that the only child from Richmond, Virginia, grew up during the “Space Race.” He was seven when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite, the first man-made object in outer space. Conquering new frontiers crowded the headlines of the time. The next decade would see the U.S. States and U.S.S.R. launching manned craft into orbit,
culminating in the first moon landing by Apollo 11 in 1969. That summer, Siegel watched the moon walk on television, just weeks after his father’s sudden death. It was a very tough summer. By fall he had decided to come back to UM for his sophomore year, instead of a nearby school. He had met a girl at the end of his freshman year; the memory of that date was tugging him back to Miami. During Siegel’s teenage years, another seismic change took place that would imprint his world. His high school would integrate. He not only witnessed the bravery of the first few African-American students, but “it showed me how society can be changed for the better.” The final ingredient for the man he would become was his love of reading about science, history, and politics. One of his historical heroes is British statesman Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister in the Victorian era. “I admire him not for his politics, but for his perseverance, courage in the