Couple killed in Alabama were former Ga. Tech football player, retired law partner

Credit: Morris, Manning and Martin

Credit: Morris, Manning and Martin

Mike McKenzie was an insurance lawyer with international firm Cozen O’Connor until his retirement in 2015, firm partner and spokeswoman Alycen Moss confirmed. He attended Georgia Tech as an undergrad and played football for the Yellow Jackets from 1970-1974.

“Darla and Mike were wonderful people, and they were so generous with their time and spirit,” said Vanessa Goggans, a longtime colleague of Darla’s.

“(Darla) was the consummate mentor. She took a profound interest in the people she worked with and her clients,” Goggans told the AJC. “Over and over again this week, I’ve heard people say how much they learned from Darla. She was incredibly smart and had really good judgment, not only in legal matters, but in business matters, too.”

Goggans last spoke to Darla on Monday, she said, just one day before the McKenzies were killed. The call was about nothing in particular, just friends and former colleagues catching up.

Goggans shared a memory from 2014 when she, Darla and the McKenzies’ daughter, who was working at their law firm at the time, got trapped in the office during Atlanta’s “Snowpocalypse.” They were forced to spend the night at their office, but Darla “made it fun,” Goggans said.

“We didn’t think of ourselves as victims of the snowstorm. We just made the best of it together,” Goggans said.

Mike McKenzie was also fondly remembered by former colleagues.

“Those of us who knew him and worked with him are mourning this tragedy,“ Moss told the AJC. ”Mike was an exceptional litigator, compassionate lawyer, incomparable mentor, extraordinary partner and friend to many of us. In addition to his subrogation practice, Mike was dedicated to giving back to the community through his pro bono work with the Innocence Project.”

Through the Innocence Project, Mike worked closely with Imran Syed, a law professor at the University of Michigan and a co-director of the Michigan Innocence Clinic.

“Mike did some truly incredible work helping to free innocent men and women who were wrongfully convicted in arson/murder cases,” Syed told the AJC. “He is single-handedly responsible for at least a dozen or so innocent people winning back their freedom after wrongful conviction.”

Goggans described Mike as “a little bit of a rockstar in his field.”

“He had accumulated so much knowledge about arson during his career,” she said.

“Mike did all this incredible work without charging a dime to any of my clients or the clients of any other Innocence Project,” Syed said.

Before pursuing a career in law, Mike McKenzie played defensive back at Georgia Tech alongside Georgia sports legend Randy Rhino, a three-time All American.

Rhino told the AJC he had not kept in close touch with McKenzie since their playing days, but remembered helping him learn to play in Tech’s secondary.

“It’s just so tragic,” Rhino said of McKenzie’s death.

According to Goggans, the McKenzies were a happy, vital couple enjoying their retirement together.

“They have a great love story; they’ve always been partners,” Goggans said, adding that the McKenzies loved hiking and travel, and had several trips already planned.

Goggans said their relationship made them great role models for their three children and emphasized Darla’s commitment to motherhood.

“She was a great mother and raised three wonderful children,” Goggans said, noting that Darla seemed to always talk about her kids’ accomplishments more than her own.

“If her children needed her, she was there,” Goggans said.

Officials in Alabama have not released further information about the circumstances around the deadly shooting.

— Staff writer Ken Sugiura contributed to this article.