In Memoriam: Mary Drago
It is with profound sadness that the Officers and Directors of the Harvard Law School Association of Los Angeles inform you of the passing of our colleague and friend Mary Drago, HLS Class of 1986, who served as Secretary of the HLSA-LA from 2014 to January 2019. Mary was instrumental in revitalizing, growing, and diversifying our organization and its events. After graduating from HLS, Mary worked as a litigation associate at Irell & Manella, and then subsequently held senior level positions at several major entertainment studios, including Senior Counsel at the Walt Disney Company; Vice-President, Business & Legal Affairs at Universal Home Entertainment; Senior Vice-President, Business & Legal Affairs at Paramount Home Entertainment; and at NBC Universal. Most recently, Mary was the Managing Director of The Portfolio Group.
During Mary’s service to the HLSA-LA, she encouraged, cajoled, supported, and inspired us to increase the participation of our HLS alumni community in Los Angeles and to forge closer ties with Cambridge. She worked tirelessly for the club and brought tremendous energy and enthusiasm to her efforts. Mary recruited many of the past and present Officers and Directors of the HLSA-LA to the organization, and often and without formal recognition, led or assisted in the planning and successful fulfillment of many of our events. These included, but were not limited to, evening events with noted author and CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin, litigation funder Bentham IMF and managing editor David Lat of “Above the Law”; the inaugural Diversity Day conference in 2015: and our now annual weekend events “Picnic and Polo” at Will Rogers State Park, and private docent tour of the Getty Villa. Mary also voluntarily dedicated a significant amount of her own time to counseling and mentoring younger lawyers she met through her work at the Portfolio Group or at HLSA-LA events.
The strength and success of our organization is due in large measure to Mary’s dedication and passion. We will greatly miss her huge heart, generous spirit, and wise counsel. The HLSA-LA Officers and Directors, in consultation with her family, are considering ways to further honor Mary’s memory.
