Roger G. Worthington
 

Law School: 
University of Texas at Austin, J.D., 1986

College: 
University of Texas at Austin, B.A., summa cum laude, 1983

Member: 
State Bar of Texas; State Bar of California

Born: 
Chico, California

Roger Worthington believes in giving back. Worthington has donated over $1 million directly to medical research on the early detection, prevention, treatment and cure of asbestos-related mesothelioma. Most of the latter amount has been donated to the cancer research foundation he helped found, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, Inc. ( MARF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to eradicate mesothelioma as a life ending disease. More important than dollars, he has donated thousands of hours to the foundation, which has funded over $5 million in research grants through a competitive peer-review process.

In 2005, MARF awarded Roger the Congressman Bruce Vento “Hope Builder " Award in recognition of his efforts to persuade industry, the drug companies, trial lawyers, and the federal government to fund therapy-focused mesothelioma research. Roger dedicated the award to his dad, “Punch “Worthington who has asbestosis and lung cancer.

In addition, Worthington has raised over $1 million for the Pacific Heart Lung & Blood Institute (PHLBI), another 501(c)(3) nonprofit research foundation. PHLBI's mission is to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chest diseases through independent research, collaboration, and education. The foundation is located in Los Angeles, California. Through PHLBI, Worthington has funded the creation of the Punch Worthington Research Laboratory, which is located at the UCLA Medical School in Los Angeles.

Worthington believes in educating our children about the importance of protecting the environment that sustains all life. In 2002, he endowed a professorship for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Texas in Austin. The course introduces students to the key concepts of genetics, evolution, and ecology so they will have a better comprehension of the interplay between the population, pollution and natural and manufactured ecosystems.

Worthington is active in his community and takes a strong interest in the wellbeing and health of his neighbors in Dana Point, California and Bend, Oregon. He actively promotes cycling as a healthy recreation in California and Oregon.

He readily gives back to the University of Texas. To honor his college mentor, Biology Professor Larry Gilbert, Worthington provides financial support for Dr. Gilbert’s field research on non-chemical methods for controlling the imported fire ant at the U.T. Brackenridge Field Laboratory in Austin, Texas.

He supports and contributes to the research of Oregon State University, Distinguished Professor of Ecology Dr. Bill Ripple in his research in biodiversity and habitat quality.

He supported the Oregon Law School’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center (ENR Center) and the work of Mary Christina Wood, with a $600,000 gift.

In 2020 he created an Oregon tree planting initiative, feeling the need to do his part to slow global warming. He pledged $1 million to plant a million native conifer trees, many of them in areas burned by wildfires in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, to remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The work was overseen by the U.S. Forest Service. Over the next few years, over 650,000 trees were planted. As of June 2023, they were on track to exceed the target of one million trees. Please read his Op Ed as published in the New Your Times on June 14, 2023 – ‘I Pledged $1 Million to Plant New Trees. I Wish I Could Invest the Money in Saving Old Ones.’

Other Information

• Worthington & Caron. Asbestos Trial Lawyer since 1988. Over $3B recovered.
• Owner of Indie Hops, LLC. Portland, OR. Breeding / Milling hops since 2009.
• Owner of Worthy Brewing. Bend, OR since 2012.
• President of Worthy Environmental. Bend, OR. 501(c)(3) non-profit.
• “I Pledged $1 Million to Plant New Trees. I Wish I Could Invest the Money in Saving Old Ones”. New York Times, June 2023.
• Rewilding the American West. Worthy Garden Club Grants $65,000 to Dr. Bill Ripple, OSU Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society. Worthy Garden Club. Bend, OR. March 2022
• Worthy Garden Club’s Operation Appleseed over halfway to goal of 1 million tree plantings. KTVZ. Bend, OR. November 2021.
• Gift from Roger Worthington helps Oregon Law address urgent climate challenges. Univ. of Oregon. Fall 2021.
• Worthy Brewing founder creates Oregon tree planting initiative. The Brew Site. March 2020.
• Author: "Probing the Constitutionality of the Texas Solid Waste Inspection Scheme" 17 State Bar of Texas Environmental Law Journal 61, 1987
• Author: "Liability of Officers, Directors and Partners for Violations of Environmental Statutes," Advising Officers, Directors and Partners of Troubled Businesses, State Bar of Texas, February 1987
• Founder, Pacific Heart, Lung & Blood Institute.
• Founder, Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, Inc., (501 (c) (3) non-profit), 2000. Congressman Bruce Vento "Hope Builder" Award, MARF, 2006
• "Time Ripe for Government Funded Effort at Mesothelioma Cure," Asbestos, Harris Martin Publishing, January 2003.
• "SV40, Asbestos and Mesothelioma: Hot Potato, Red Herring or Silver Bullet?" Asbestos, Harris Martin Publishing, Premier Issue, 2000
• Author: "Liability of Officers, Directors and Partners for Violations of Environmental Statutes," Advising Officers, Directors and Partners of Troubled Businesses, State Bar of Texas, February, 1987
• Author: "Probing the Constitutionality of the Texas Solid Waste Inspection Scheme" 17 State Bar of Texas Environmental Law Journal 61, 1987
• Phi Beta Kappa