Obituary: Workers' compensation lawyer Greg Heacox was among the nation's best

Greg Heacox was an old-fashioned, self-deprecating lawyer who never held a grudge once the dust settled, according to attorneys and judges who knew him.

Ranked by his peers as one of the top workers' compensation attorneys in the nation, he didn't brag about himself and his victories.

Heacox, 62, of Stillwater, died May 15.

He was named the 2012 Minneapolis Lawyer of the Year in workers' compensation defense, as well as one of the Best Lawyers in America from 1995 until his death. A 1977 magna cum laude graduate of William Mitchell College of Law, he was listed as a "Super Lawyer" in the journal Minnesota Law & Politics.

"Greg never trumpeted his prowess as a lawyer," said Rod Cosgriff, who along with Heacox and four others founded their small St. Paul law firm in 1996. "In fact, if you listened to him tell it, he never won a case. I cannot recall once in 17 years as one of his partners that Greg ever mentioned one of his wins."

He knew the security guards in his St. Peter Street building by name — and would inquire often how their kids were doing. He knew the janitor, too, friends said.

"Greg was an outstanding attorney and advocate for his clients and well respected by the workers' compensation bench and bar," statewide Compensation Judge Kathleen Behounek said.

"But outside the formal courtroom, he was personable and it was easy to see his passion for his family, especially in following his kids and their sports."

She and Heacox's daughters are both high school seniors named Hannah who played hockey. Their sons played baseball and hockey. "We talked about how we both liked to sit by ourselves at games, away from the other parents, so we could watch our girls play," Behounek said.

Heacox represented employers big and small. He worked as a tireless advocate, at his desk each morning by 7, often six days a week, despite lifelong health problems.

He was "enormously respected," Compensation Judge Bradley Behr. Heacox was always professional in demeanor, highly prepared, and knew the law and his cases well in a type of litigation that most people don't really understand, Behr said.

"People knew who he was; people respected his opinions, and he trained a lot of good people at the firm," Behr said.

Heacox's office was filled with photos of his kids — Zach, Sam and Hannah — playing for the Stillwater Ponies and other endeavors.

It was a "shrine" to his kids, of whom he was so proud, fellow attorney Lorri Bescheinen had liked to tease.

Cosgriff eulogized Heacox at his May 20 services as an honorable man with keen humor and high expectations of the firm's younger attorneys. He told of Heacox's repeated bouts of pneumonia as a child and of his family's move from Renville, Minn., to Bloomington to be closer to his doctor. Through much of his adulthood, Heacox needed medication and self-care.

"He showed us every day what courage looked like merely by coming to work," Cosgriff said. "His health frequently was an issue, but he either rallied courageously from serious life-threatening illnesses or worked on through others. He worked despite his deteriorating health up until a week before his final hospitalization."

Heacox often looked like a tired, overworked fellow, "but with a steel will to meet his own uncompromising expectations, to keep his obligations and not complain," Cosgriff said.

"In the end, Greg's life reminds us that difficulty need not detour us from goodness and honor — that character and love trump all."

Other survivors include his wife, Debbie; sister, Diane, and mother, Gloria.