In Memoriam

A civil rights expert and policy adviser to several presidents, Christopher Edley Jr., who was a member of the Harvard Law School faculty for more than two decades before becoming dean of University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, died on May 10

David Herwitz ’49, Royall Professor of Law, Emeritus, died April 8, 2024. He was 98. A scholar of tax and business law, Herwitz, who taught on the Harvard Law faculty for more than 50 years, is remembered as a beloved teacher colleague and mentor.

Charles Fried, a consummate professor, renowned legal philosopher, and beloved colleague, died on Jan. 23 at his home in Cambridge. He was 88. 

Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, died Dec. 1. She was 93.

Gerald E. Frug ’63, a pathbreaking scholar who reinvented the field of local government law, and a superb teacher and mentor, died Nov. 7 after a long illness. The Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School was 84.

Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. ‘78, or Tree, as he was affectionately known, the celebrated, influential, and beloved Harvard Law professor and civil rights scholar, died peacefully on August 4 in his home in Odenton, Maryland, from the natural progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Laurence H. Silberman ‘61, an influential jurist who had a long career as an appeals court judge, a diplomat, and a government official died on October 2.