Jane F. Barrett
During a distinguished 4-decade career in the legal profession, she gained national status prosecuting environmental cases
Jane F. Barrett, a distinguished lawyer who during her four-decade career was a trial attorney, state and federal prosecutor, white-collar defense counsel and legal educator, died April 7 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The former Canton and Tolchester Beach resident was 68.
“Jane was what Assistant U.S. Attorney Barney Skolnik was to political corruption, as she was to environmental prosecution,” said U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, who worked with both Mr. Skolnik and Ms. Barrett in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore.
“She was fantastic. She was phenomenal. She really was one of the great environmental lawyers of our era, and no one did more to protect the Chesapeake Bay,” Judge Bennett said. “She was tenacious and smart when it came to environmental crimes. She put environmental law and prosecution on the map. She was a star and a magnificent lawyer and gained national status prosecuting environmental cases. I thought the world of her.”
“Jane was fearless,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Roann Nichols, who worked for years with Ms. Barrett in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and was also a close friend.
“She was tireless and committed to the Chesapeake Bay and for keeping and protecting it for citizens. She was completely passionate about her work and was an extraordinary lawyer.
“I never tried a case with her and it’s a huge regret. I’ve had heard it said that she was the best trial partner and co-counsel one could ever have. She was just brilliant.”
Timothy B. Wheeler, who covered the environment for 25 years for The Baltimore Sun, and is now associate editor and senior writer for The Bay Journal in Annapolis, covered Ms. Barrett extensively.
“Jane was passionate and a hard charger when it came to environmental crime and enforcement when she was in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and won convictions,” Mr. Wheeler said. “She had a steel-trap mind and could cut through the red tape and technical stuff and lay a case out, and she brought the same passion to the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic when it came to regulatory issues and making them tougher.”
Jane France Barrett, daughter of Dr. Harley V. Barrett, professor of preventive medicine at the University of Maryland Medical School, and his wife, Lucille R. Barrett, a community leader and volunteer, was born in Monterey, California, and spent her early years in Oklahoma and Nebraska before coming with her family to Baltimore in 1965 and settling in Ellicott City.
Ms. Barrett was a 1969 graduate of Archbishop Keough High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from what is now Loyola University Maryland and obtained her law degree in 1976 from the University of Maryland Law School.
She began her legal career as an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency in 1976 in Washington.
“Fresh out of the University of Maryland Law School, she helped the fledgling EPA win one of its first criminal convictions — involving a major chemical manufacturer, FMC Corp., accused of dumping toxic chemicals in a West Virginia river and contaminating the drinking water of three cities downstream,” The Sun reported in 1997.
At the time, Robert Percival, who was teaching environmental law at the University of Maryland Law School and is now director of the environmental law program at the law school, told the newspaper,
“She was tenacious. She brought some of the most important early cases that showed that the criminal provisions of the environmental laws had teeth.”
One of Ms. Barrett’s most significant cases came in 1989, the prosecution of three civilian managers of the Army’s chemical weapons research program at Aberdeen Proving Ground for illegally disposing of hazardous waste at the APG in Harford County, and underscoring the fact that the Defense Department considered itself exempt from federal environmental laws.
“It was the first time that [federal] senior executives had been charged,” Ms. Barrett told The Sun. “If we don’t hold federal employees accountable, it’s very difficult to hold anyone accountable. The fact we went after senior managers — and not the lowerlevel guys who did the spilling and dumping — sent shock waves through the military. It still does.”
In 1981, Ms. Barrett joined the Maryland
Attorney General’s Office as an assistant attorney general heading the Hazardous Waste and Environmental Task Force. She held that position until 1986 when she began serving in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore, where she continued pursuing groundbreaking environmental crime prosecutions while serving as chief of environmental litigation.
Ms. Barrett was so focused on her work that she worked weekends on her cases.
“She never missed a beat when it came to issues and other things. She had it all,” Ms. Nichols said.
Ms. Barrett left the U. S. Attorney’s Office in 1998 and went into private practice working in environmental compliance and white-collar defense as a partner in Dyer, Ellis & Joseph in Washington, and then with Blank Rome LLP, also in Washington.
Ms. Barrett always kept a small figure of a barracuda in her office that had been given to her by an FBI agent, and that became her nickname.
“The ‘Barracuda’ has bitten her last criminal,” Mr. Wheeler wrote in 1997 at the time she left the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “After 21 years of preying on polluters, poachers, con artists and wetlands despoilers, Jane F. Barrett leaves the U.S. attorney’s office in Baltimore today to swim to the other side.”
In 2007, she was appointed as tenured faculty and director of the University of Maryland School of Law’s Environmental Law Clinic, a position she held until retiring in 2017.
In 2012, Ms. Barrett and the law clinic represented the Waterkeeper Alliance in a lawsuit against a family-owned chicken farm and industry giant Perdue that was fouling bay waters with chicken waste.
Federal Judge William M. Nickerson ruled against the Waterkeeper Alliance, explaining in his decision that the group had failed to produce sufficient evidence that the waste from the chicken farm was responsible for “alarmingly high” levels of bacteria in the bay.
Ms. Barrett told The Sun that she “respectfully” disagreed with his decision.
“She had stood to some pretty intense pressure from individuals, including those in the governor’s office in the Perdue case,” Mr. Wheeler said in a telephone interview.
Ms. Barrett moved to Tolchester Beach in 2014, where she did pro bono legal work for the Chester River Association and was an active communicant of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Parish in Chestertown.
After her diagnosis three years ago of ALS, she moved to Harbor’s Edge, an older adult community, in Norfolk, Virginia, to be near her son and grandchildren. In Norfolk, she was a communicant of the Basilica of St. Mary Catholic Community, and earlier when living in Baltimore, had been a parishioner of St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church.
She liked kayaking on the bay, rode her bike all through Europe, was a scuba diver and liked gardening.
“She was a sportswoman and an outdoorswoman,’” said a sister, Barbara B. Foster of Chestertown.
When she received her diagnosis, Ms. Barrett assembled a bucket list of things she wanted to do, and along with Ms. Nichols took a bike trip through Cuba and visited the Galápagos Islands.
Knowing she would lose the ability to speak because of ALS, Ms. Barrett recorded thousands of words and learned to use a computer-generated voice.
“It sounded like her speaking,” her sister said.
She later mastered the Eyegaze speech machine, which allowed her eyes to type out text and messages.
“She remained cheerful and upbeat even as things grew more difficult in the final weeks of her life,” Ms. Foster said.
For the last several months of her life, her family rented a beach house in Virginia Beach where she could enjoy the water and beach as her life waned.
“Her death is so tragic because she was so extraordinary. This is so unfair and wrong on so many levels,” Ms. Nichols said. “She really had everything mentally until the end. She had courage, strength and grace.”
Plans for a celebration-of-life gathering to be held this summer are incomplete.
In addition to her sister, Ms. Barrett is survived by her son, Dr. Christian McEvoy of Virginia Beach; two brothers, Richard M. Barrett of Frederick and Philip Barrett of Mount Dora, Florida; another sister, Christina B. Boss of Cuenca, Ecuador; and a granddaughter, Ellie McEvoy of Virginia Beach. Her marriage to Jeffrey McEvoy ended in divorce.
Viola Elizabeth Milburn, née Manigault of Severn, Maryland passed peacefully on Saturday, April 10, 2021 at home with her family by her side. She was 81. Viola and her husband, Fabian Milburn, Sr. had been married for 61 years and are citizens of the world, having traveled to several continents in connection with his duties on behalf of the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Dept. of Defense. In 1980, they purchased a home in Anne Arundel County and quickly became a part of the local community.
Whether it was Greece, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, or Severn, Viola (or “Vi” as friends and family called her), was known for being the consummate hostess and always made everyone around her feel welcome. Everyone knew that when Vi threw a holiday party, a bar-b-q, or any soirée, it was going to be memorable and everyone was assured of having a great time. To commemorate their 50th wedding anniversary and world travels, Viola and Fabian hosted a black-tie gala themed “A Passport to Love” and following the weekend of festivities, they added another stamp to their passport by flying to Montego Bay, Jamaica and spending a week at Round Hill. To commemorate their 60th wedding anniversary, Viola and Fabian hosted another gala themed “Faith, Hope & Love” and celebrated this milestone by reaffirming their wedding vows. Viola was born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Beulah Manigault, née Grayson of Carlisle, Pennsylvania and Joseph Manigault of Swansea, South Carolina. Viola is a graduate of William Penn High School (class of 1958), where she excelled academically, was a member of the Academic Scholars Club, and continued her college studies while traveling abroad with her husband. Viola’s father owned one of Harrisburg’s largest general hauling companies (“Manigault & Sons”), servicing the steel mills in the area. Her mother was active in local politics, worked at the state capitol building in Harrisburg and like her daughter, was known and loved by so many in the community. Upon Viola and Fabian’s return to the U.S. (and with her family settled into the local Maryland community), Viola embarked on a career initially working in Human Resources for Ingram Books and then in the Finance & Accounting division of International Paper. Stories have often been recounted about Viola’s amazing skill at organizing the office lottery syndicate when there was a large jackpot. She also had an amazing winning streak at bingo, one of her favorite weekly activities with her friends. Viola’s skill at navigating several bingo cards at once is legendary, as was her luck at the Maryland Live! slot machines. Part of Viola’s charm was her ability to galvanize her friends and colleagues to support charitable initiatives. Each year, Viola was part of a group of local women who came together to ensure that families in need received a proper Thanksgiving dinner and additionally, that local children received toys for Christmas. Viola also co-founded a social group called “We3” which sponsored trips to New York City and Atlantic City to attend events including the Radio City Rockettes spectacular, holiday shopping, dinners at Mastoris in Bordentown, New Jersey, and of course, a stop at the casinos. Trips to see Alvin Ailey, Cece Winans’ Christmas Concert at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, and the annual Cherry Blossom Festival were always on Vi’s social calendar.
“I remember calling mom’s cell phone to catch-up and asked how she and dad were doing. Mom said ‘we’ll need to call you back because we’re in Florida seeing Gladys Knight & the Pips.’ I recall thinking I wish I had their life because they really know how to live,” said her son Fabian Milburn, Jr. “When I think of mom and dad, I think of one of the most active, giving, and charitable couples.”
As a Charter member (1980) Viola served Amulet Chapter No. 85, Order of the Eastern Star-PHA, with distinction and grace. Viola became very knowledgeable of the rules and regulations of the Order. She served the Chapter in several positions and Committees. She obtained and served as Worthy Matron (the highest position in the Chapter) 1983-1984. Viola was always willing to share her expertise with the new members. To gain more experience and knowledge, Vi began to travel with Myra Grand Chapter, OES-PHA. During the years, she served the Grand Chapter as District Deputy Grand Matron for District 2, Grand Lecturer, and Grand Chairperson for the Hospitality Committee. Because of her works and her dedication to the order, in 2011, Viola was given Past Grand Worthy Matron honors, under the leadership of Past Grand Worthy Matron Juanita Clarke.
Viola became a member of Jerusalem Court No. 1, Daughters of the Imperial Court on June 29, 1981. She served on various committees. She was elected to the position of Illustrious Commandress in December 1990. After serving as the Illustrious Commandress in 1991, she served as the Imperial Deputy for the Oasis of Baltimore from 1994-1998 and she served as the Imperial Deputy for the Desert of Maryland from 19982001. Past Commandress Milburn loved the Fraternal Order and in 2002 she was bestowed the title of Honorary Past Imperial Commandress. She was very faithful in instilling the importance of being a finer woman and always doing things with grace and elegance. Honorary Past Imperial Commandress Milburn was a proud Daughter of the Imperial Court and she was glad to be a member of Jerusalem Court, No. 1. She worked hard and she loved and supported Jerusalem Court until her health no longer allowed her to. She became a life member in 2017. All who knew her truly loved her. Viola has never met a stranger. Viola is survived by her husband, Fabian Milburn, Sr.; her daughter and son-in-law, Rhonda and David Brown; and her son Fabian Milburn, Jr., all of Severn, Maryland; sisters Beulah Bass and Ora Manigault, and brother Joseph Manigault, all of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; sister-inlaw Anna Mae Manigault, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; sister-in-law Theresa Milburn, of Brooklyn, New York; sister-in-law Audrey Patrick, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and brother George Manigault, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is also survived by so many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, friends and an expansive global village that she met during her travels. Viola is preceded in death by her parents Beulah and Joseph Manigault, her sister Geraldine Manigault, and brother Leonard Manigault. In honor of Viola’s spirit for life and as a tribute to the light she brought to everyone she met, there will be a “Celebration of Life” service to laugh, smile and rejoice at the time we were so fortunate to have her with us.
The service will be held at Donaldson Funeral Home, 1411 Annapolis Road, Odenton, Maryland 21113 on Monday, April 19th. Viewing hours will be from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM, a “Celebration of Life Service” will follow from 12:00 – 1:00 PM, and thereafter, a procession to Crownsville Veterans Cemetery, 1122 Sunrise Beach Road, Crownsville, Maryland 21032, for Viola’s final resting stop on this journey.
The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Viola’s name to Partners-In-Care, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting older adults with living and thriving independently. Donations can be sent to 8151-C Ritchie Highway, Pasadena, Maryland 21122.