Fowler community reflects on memories of Frank Doti

Faculty and alumni in Chapman’s Fowler School of Law recall their favorite memories of the late Frank Doti, the work he accomplished during his time at the university and his love of train sets.

One of the most prominent memories Matthew Doti recalls of his father is his love for model train sets, an interest that started when Frank Doti was nine years old and had received a Lionel O-Gauge train set for Christmas in 1952.

This interest grew when he rode the Santa Fe Railway El Capitan train during a family trip from Chicago to Southern California six years later. 

“As you can imagine, the trip had a profound effect on him, and he loved to travel by train ever since,” Matthew Doti said in an email sent to The Panther. “He was a huge fan of the Santa Fe Railway, and over the years, (he) collected lots of memorabilia from the railroad.”

Frank Doti died in a car accident July 14. His three train sets —  the Lionel O-Gauge set, the G-Gauge set and the HO-Gauge set — remain at his two homes in Anaheim and Colorado.

During his time at Chapman University, Frank Doti was known by colleagues and alumni for his expansive work in tax law. A memorial service will be held today at 4 p.m. in the Aitken Art Plaza, located just outside of the Musco Center for the Arts.

According to Fowler Dean Matt Parlow, Franks Doti’s family members, former students and colleagues will offer some reflections at the service. The songs that will be played during the service include “Donde lieta uscìi” from Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La Bohème,” and an excerpt of Anton Webern’s “Langsamer Satz” performed live by the Temianka Quartet. The pieces were two of Frank Doti’s favorite songs, according to Parlow.

“It’s going to capture the different aspects of who he was from different dimensions of his life and his career, and we’re looking forward to it,” Parlow told The Panther.

When reflecting on Frank Doti’s career, Parlow said that Frank Doti thought that everything could be related back to tax law.

“I think he came at (life) from that sort of accounting tax background, but I think he thought more broadly about it in terms of its implications on all of our lives, businesses and the functioning of government,” Parlow said. “To him, it was such an interesting intellectual framework within which to not just study the law but think about society, and that just got him up in the morning every day, excited about coming to work (to teach) students about it.”

Parlow met Frank Doti upon joining the Fowler faculty in 2005 as a junior faculty member, a term used in the college to describe an individual who is new to teaching. Parlow told The Panther that Frank Doti was welcoming during those first few years.

“He just wanted to make sure I knew that I could come to him with questions and (that) he was excited to have me as a colleague,” Parlow said. “He knew I would do well here, and he was excited that I’d be part of the team here at the law school.”

The two worked together until 2008, when Parlow left Chapman to teach law at Marquette University’s law school, where he also worked as the associate dean for Academic Affairs. Their friendship was reinvigorated when Parlow returned to Chapman in 2016 as Fowler’s new dean.

“Professor Doti was super excited to see me, gave me a hug (and) told me how excited he was that I was the new dean,” Parlow recalled. “He knew I would do great work, and he was looking forward to working with me and continuing to build on all the great momentum we have in our School of Law.”

Parlow said that his favorite memory of Frank Doti was watching him become a grandparent.

“(That memory) just gave me a window into the extraordinary kind of heart he had and how life-giving his family was,” Parlow said. “It was inspiring.”

Chapman criminal law professor Scott Howe said his favorite memory of Frank Doti was seeing him determinedly walk up the stairs with an armful of books — from the first floor of the law school to the fourth floor — instead of taking the elevator.

“He was in really good shape; he was very fit,” Howe told The Panther. “He exercised a lot, and he would walk up the stairs at a brisk pace with an (armful) of big law books throughout most of his (time) at the law school. He was older than I am and still very energetic.”

Howe and Frank Doti started working at Chapman the same year, 1996, just one year after Fowler opened. Howe recalled that he felt an immediate connection to Frank Doti since the school was so new and “just getting off the ground.” Howe and Frank Doti’s offices were across from each other, and they would regularly talk about Frank Doti’s children and his summer home in Colorado. 

“(Frank Doti) was friendly and cheerful toward everyone,” Howe said. “So, in that sense, it was fun to be around (him); he’s good to be around.”

Michael Simon, a Fowler alumnus who graduated in 2000, recalled that Frank Doti was always looking out for students and alumni, oftentimes reaching out to them with various career opportunities. One of the opportunities Frank Doti offered to Simon was an invitation to speak at a symposium held 10 years ago on campus about potential changes in the estate tax field.

Simon also said that Frank Doti “had a real talent” for breaking down very complex concepts to help his students understand.

“Some of the (curriculum) is very, very difficult to understand, but after the first class I took with him … I was pretty amazed as a student, having seen him (break down the concepts),” Simon said. “At that point, I knew that he was a special professor, (and) I made sure to take any tax class that he offered to benefit from that.”

During his time at Chapman, Frank Doti was best known for founding the Tax Law Clinic, where student attorneys — supervised by faculty members and professional attorneys — assist low-income individuals who struggle finding and affording legal representation.

“(The clinic) has a really meaningful impact on those in the community as well as on our students’ training,” Parlow said.