Frances Lile Hammond Deinard

Frances Lile Hammond Deinard, known to friends and colleagues as Lile, passed away peacefully on June 30, 2026 at the age of 86 near her home in Otis, Massachusetts, the Berkshires. Born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, Lile was the daughter of Lewis

Machen Hammond, a professor of philosophy at the University of Virginia, and Mabel Frances Lile Hammond. She spent her teenage years living on “the Lawn” UVA’s historic main quadrangle with her parents and older sister Juliet Hammond Hetzel.

Education was deeply valued in her family. Lile loved to tell the story of the day her father stormed into her school and told the principal, “My daughter will not take typing. She will be taking Latin.” Needless to say, the school moved Lile to a Latin class.

At age 18 Lile followed in her sister’s footsteps and matriculated at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, one of the prestigious “Seven Sisters” and one of the finest college educations available to women at the time. She had many wonderful stories about her time at Smith and the lifelong friends she made there. She often joked about getting so immersed in dormitory bridge games that she would have to jump on her bicycle and race

across campus to be in time for class.

Lile was planning to be an art history major, a subject she loved, but a call from her parents the spring of sophomore year changed her plans. Her father had been posted to Germany to serve with the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey following World War II, and her family wanted Lile to join them in Europe. So Lile changed her major to French, packed her bags, and spent her junior year in Paris, happily driving around Europe with friends during her

vacations. Another of Lile’s favorite stories to tell was her bold decision to cut her beautiful waist-length brown hair and sell it for the cash she needed to prolong her vacation in Italy.

While the elderly ladies in the salon wept over her decision, Lile was happy with her chic new haircut and her ability to continue travelling with her friends around the gorgeous

Italian countryside.

Lile returned to Smith College for her senior year and immediately after graduation married Ethan Curtis Deinard, a young attorney from Minneapolis. They moved to Long Island, New York, eventually buying a house in Port Washington and settling in the same neighborhood there for over twenty years. Lile taught French at Carrie P. Weber Junior High School for several years. Their daughter Caitlin was born there in 1967 and their son Theodore, known

as Ted, in 1972.

In 1971, having already obtained her MA in French literature, Lile enrolled in Hofstra University’s new law school, joining its historic second-ever entering class. This was a rare and impressive step for a young married woman at the time, especially since her son Ted

was born during the fall of her second year. She graduated in 1974, was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1975, and started work as a junior associate at Rogers, Hoge & Hills LLP. There she was lucky enough to be mentored by senior partner Lenore Stoughton, a

pioneer in trademark and intellectual property law, a fascinating and challenging area of the law, in which Lile was to happily spend her long and successful career. Her clients included Merriam-Webster, the Ritz Paris Hotel, Harrods Department Store, and

Educational Testing Service.

Later in her career, Lile moved to White & Case LLP and then finally to Dorsey & Whitney LLP, where she practiced as a senior partner well into her 70s. When she retired, she moved full-time to her beloved 18th-century farmhouse in Otis, Massachusetts that she had bought with her second husband in 1986.

Over the years Lile and her family spent many happy weekends and holidays there enjoying enormous meals, crackling wood fires, wide-ranging discussions, and, in the summers, visits to nearby Tanglewood. Later in life Lile met Michael McGinnis, whose children and grandchildren became a beloved second family for her. They had many years together before Michael passed away in November 2025.

Lile also travelled both for work—the annual International Trademark Association meetings were a consistent social and professional highlight—and then in retirement. For her 70th

birthday she hosted her children, grandchildren, and friends for two weeks at a beautiful farmhouse in the heart of the Dordogne countryside, putting her college French to good use.

Her Christian faith and community also brought her immense comfort. She joined Stanwich Church in Greenwich, Connecticut—her son Ted’s church—in 2024. Two of her most meaningful trips in retirement were with the church, first to Ireland and then to Wales,

both led by Pastor Chuck Davis and his wife Ingrid.

In her last years, poor health meant Lile was not often able to leave Otis, but she was blessed with many and frequent visits from friends and family. Her wonderful neighbors on Stebbins Road and her hospice care team together made it possible for her to stay there and live on her own terms with her beloved Havanese dog Lola for as long as possible before her final brief stay in the hospital.

Lile is survived by her beloved children Caitlin Deinard Blasdell and Ted Deinard, their spouses Scott and Jen, her six treasured grandchildren Will, James, Sam, and Martin Blasdell and Gigi and Theo Deinard, and numerous nieces, nephews, step-children, and

other relatives. She is also survived by Michael’s children and three grandchildren whom she loved dearly.

A memorial service will be held on July 14, 2026 at 2 pm at Stanwich Church, 202 Taconic Road, Greenwich, CT. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to Pivot Ministries of Bridgeport, CT (https://www.pivotministries.org/) in Lile’s memory.