About the Fund
Norm Owen, our dear brother, passed away October 24, 2024. This  P.A.D. International Foundation fund is created to honor Norm's years of service and dedication to his beloved Phi Alpha Delta.

• This fund supports formal P.A.D. Law Chapter charters/reactivations. The grant is to be used to cover associated costs including, but not limited to, charter/reactivation fees, chapter materials, and recruitment expenses.

  • Value for each chapter: $250.00
  • Use: Formal chapter charter or reactivation expenses
  • Eligibility: Law Chapters that are formally reactivating/chartering
    Namesake: Norm Owen (Beaumont Chapter)

Donate:
The Phi Alpha Delta International Foundation is P.A.D.’s charitable entity and a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible organization. The opportunities offered because of The Foundation make a difference in the lives of students, P.A.D. alumni, and their communities. Thank you for your contribution.

About Norm Owen:

Norman M. Owen attended California Western University School of Law where he joined P.A.D.’s Beaumont Chapter. Norm served as Vice Justice and Justice of the Chapter and was voted the Outstanding Active Member. Norm and his wife attended their first Convention in New Orleans in 1970 where Norm served on the Nominations Committee (and where Norm first met John Weitkamp who was a teenager serving as the Nominations Committee Marshal). It was at that Convention that women were first admitted to Fraternity membership.

As an alumnus, Norm served as Vice Chairman of the Convention Committee that hosted the 1972 Convention in San Diego at which Phi Delta Delta Law Fraternity (the leading law fraternity for women) merged with P.A.D. Norm was also the recipient of the Beaumont Chapter Outstanding Alumnus Member Award. He was appointed District III Justice and served in this position until he was elected Associate Tribune at the 1974 Convention in Toronto.

During the 1974–76 biennium, the Supreme Tribunal adopted its new rules and revised the system for indexing and citing its opinions. Norm was also instrumental in the establishment and chartering of the Aloha Alumni Chapter in Hawaii in 1975.

At the 41st Biennial Convention, Norm was elected to the position of Chief Tribune and served in that position until January 1978 when he was elected by the IEB to fill the then vacant position of International Proctor. He was reelected to that position at the 1978 Convention in Cleveland and reelected again at the 1980 Convention in Hot Springs. Norm was elected as International Secretary at the 1982 Convention, International Treasurer in 1984, International Advocate at the 1986 Convention in Baltimore, International 2nd Vice Justice in 1988, and International Vice Justice in 1990. At the 1992 Convention in Scottsdale, Arizona, Norm was elected as International Justice.

During his tenure, P.A.D. formed a joint venture with the National Barrier Awareness Foundation. Norm organized a National Disability Awareness Day in our Nation’s capital. As part of that project, Norm wrote and produced video of the event which was used by communities to conduct local Disability Awareness Day events.

Following Norm’s graduation, he began the general practice of law in San Diego. Thereafter, Norm served as Western Area Counsel for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company. Norm was hired as Vice President and Counsel for American Abstract and Escrow Company in Honolulu, where he and his wife Beverly lived until 1976, when Norm accepted a position as house counsel to several development and investment corporations and businesses in Santa Rosa. Thereafter, Norm opened his private practice in Santa Rosa, emphasizing litigation, real estate, business, and estate planning. In addition to his own law practice, Norm then became Of Counsel to the litigation, business, and employment law firm of McMillan and Shureen in 2010.

Norm received the 1991 Santa Rosa Merit Award for his six-year service as a Planning Commissioner and Commission Chairman. A Rotarian since 1978, Norm served as President of his Rotary Club in the 1996–1997 Rotary International year and as District Governor of Rotary District 5130 in Northern California in the 2003–2004 Rotary International year. In 1997, California Governor Pete Wilson appointed Norm to the California Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. He served as a member of that Committee until 2008, serving three years as Chairman. Norm also served his community as a member of the Foundation Board of Trustees of the Santa Rosa Junior College, as well as on the Foundation Board of the Santa Rosa Rotary Club and on the Advisory Board of Rotary District 5130. At the 2014 Convention of P.A.D. in Scottsdale, Norm was admitted to membership in the Distinguished Service Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta: our Fraternity’s highest honor.