University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Paul I. Birzon, an attorney and adjunct professor in the UB Law School, died Aug. 30 in Rochester of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 75.

Born in Brooklyn, Birzon attended CUNY before serving in the army. He graduated with honors from Columbia Law School in 1959.

He moved to Buffalo in 1960, where he started his law practice and taught in the UB Law School. He remained on the Law School faculty for 41 years, teaching courses that included criminal procedure, constitutional law and evidence. His students included area judges and attorneys.

Regarded as an expert in the area of evidence, Birzon published extensively and many of his articles remain authoritative references for jurists around the country. One of his cases resulted in the novel concept of “parent-child” privilege in New York jurisprudence.

A specialist in the practice of matrimonial law, Birzon served as president of the New York Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers from 1985-87.

Sol W. Weller, professor emeritus in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, died Aug. 24 in Beechwood Continuing Care, Getzville. He was 90.

Born in Detroit, Weller earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Chicago and worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II.

Over the next two decades, he worked in chemical engineering, specializing in kinetics, coal liquefaction, the separation of gases by permeation, catalysts and standardization of catalyst- testing methods. He was responsible for several patents in his field.

In 1963, he joined the chemical engineering faculty at UB, where he taught until 1988.

While at UB, he held the C. C. Furnas Memorial Chair in Engineering in 1983. He also received two Fulbright Awards, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1973, the Storch Award for coal research in 1981, Murphee Award for Industrial and Engineering Chemistry in 1982 and the Schoellkopf Medal in 1984.

Weller also taught and consulted in Spain, Turkey, England and Israel. He published numerous scientific papers, book chapters and encyclopedia entries during his career.