John Pacenti
08-01-2008
The word kept coming up like a bad penny.
Shock.
That is how friends and colleagues on Thursday described their reaction upon hearing about the death of Akerman Senterfitt attorney Steven E. Chaykin.
The former federal prosecutor died Wednesday afternoon while on vacation in Colorado. He was trying to save his wife after she slipped into a fast-moving river popular with sightseers.
Chaykin was 57 years old.
"He was always a guy with a lot of courage," said Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. Attorney who is now a partner at the Miami law firm of Coffey Burlington.
"It's tragic but the means of his death -- trying to save his wife -- is the way he lived his professional life."
Coffey said Chaykin ran the Broward County, Fla., office for him at the U.S. Attorney's Office. Chaykin was a federal prosecutor from 1985 to 1994 and also served as the chief of the public corruption division.
The vivid reports out of Aspen painted how a family vacation quickly turned to horror and how bystanders risked their own lives to try to save Chaykin.
The attorney and his wife, Melissa, and their 10-year-old daughter, Sydney, were visiting with friends near a section of the Roaring Fork River known for its dramatic waterfalls, said Jeff Lumsden, spokesman for the Pitkin County Sheriff's Department.
Melissa Chaykin went with her husband to the river's edge to take some photographs and slipped on the slick granite into the frigid waters. Chaykin didn't hesitate. He went in after her, but he slipped as well, hit his head and was swallowed by the river, Lumsden said.
He was fished out of the water by fellow sightseers. Resuscitation efforts were futile.
It took about an hour for rescuers to reach the scene because the site is 30 minutes from any cell phone service, Lumsden said.
Melissa Chaykin suffered injuries to the lower leg, shoulder, and a gash to the forehead, as well as hyperthermia, Lumsden said.
Melissa Chaykin remained hospitalized Thursday, according to Akerman Senterfitt in Miami, where some staffers answered the phone in tears.
"We are all so shell-shocked," said Lise Hover, an assistant to attorney Daniel S. Gelber, who worked close with Chaykin in the white-collar and government investigations group.
"Steve had all the qualities you would want in a friend or attorney: passion, loyalty and a pronounced sense of fairness," said Gelber, who is minority leader in the state House of Representatives.
Robert Zinn, the president of Akerman Senterfitt, called Chaykin's death not only a tremendous loss for the firm, but a loss of a "brilliant legal mind" for South Florida's legal community.
"He was a lawyer's lawyer," Zinn said. "When a lawyer had a question or needed to counsel, needed somebody to talk [to], they would go to Steve. I can't tell you how many people have called and referred to Steve as their very best friend in the world."
As result of his professional experience, Chaykin could see the perspective from both sides of the aisle.
Last month, in a story for the Daily Business Review, Chaykin's moral compass was on display. He commented on how a health insurance company in a billing dispute with a Boynton Beach doctor prompted the federal government to prosecute the physician.
"It's a complete abuse of the criminal justice process to try to resolve civil complaints or civil disputes by using the hammer of the criminal justice system," he said.
But it was more than his professionalism and intellect that his colleagues remember. Chaykin walked the fine line between congeniality and righteousness.
"He loved a cause that was just," Gelber said. "As a trial lawyer, he was fearless but always fair, and his adversaries left the courtroom -- even after a tenacious battle -- respecting him. I'm going to miss him more than I can imagine."
Miami attorney Jane Moscowitz, who worked numerous cases with Chaykin, said, "Nice is such an insipid word, but he was such a fine person to work with. He always gave it his all."
Chaykin's cases were often prominent.
While with the U.S. Attorney's Office, he prosecuted Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez. As a defense attorney, he represented the city of Miami's former finance director, Manohar Surana.
Chaykin in 2006 represented former Florida International University Professor Carlos Alvarez, who was accused of spying for the Cuban government.
Chaykin was also a rarity: a South Florida native. He graduated from Nova High School in Davie and went to the University of Miami for both his undergraduate and law degrees.
He was an ex-officio member of the UM Board of Trustees. Chaykin also served on the Florida Bar Board of Governors.
He was also immediate past president of the UM Citizens Board; an advisory board member of the School of Law's Center for Ethics and Public Service; and a member of Iron Arrow, the university's oldest and most prestigious honor society. He received the Friend of the Center Award from the Center for Ethics and Public Service.
"Steve Chaykin was a loyal and thoughtful alum and trustee," said University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala. "He loved his alma mater, and we all loved and respected him. The entire university community joins me in mourning his loss."
Lumsden, the sheriff spokesman in Colorado, said in his 22 years in law enforcement, a number of people have slipped on the rocks in the area known as "the Grottos."
The spokesman described the area as a grouping of rock bowls filled with water from melting snow about 10,000 feet above sea level. They blend into each other, creating numerous and picturesque waterfalls.
Lumsden said the local coroner's office will determine whether Chaykin drowned or died from hitting his head when he slipped.
Lumsden said he heard Chaykin was a prominent attorney and well-known in Miami.
"It's one of those times where the minute before and the minute after are dramatically different," he said of the tragedy.
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