Obituary:
Beloved Faculty Member Professor Gary T. Schwartz:
A Leader
in Torts Law
UCLA School of Law Professor Gary T. Schwartz died in his home in the
early morning hours of July 25. He was 61. A member of the UCLA School of
Law faculty since 1969, he held the William D. Warren Chair. He had
attended Cornell University and graduated from Oberlin College. He
attended law school at Harvard University Law School and then clerked for
Judge J. Skelly Wright of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Professor Schwartz was a consultant to the Rand Corporation's Institute
for Civil Justice, the Los Angeles City Council, the California
Legislature's Joint Committee on Tort Liability, the Association of Bay
Area Governments, the Committee for Economic Development, and the
California Citizens Commission on Tort Reform.
Professor Schwartz was a particularly gifted and popular teacher, and
was recognized nationally for his scholarship in the field of torts. He
was a recipient of the Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching and at the
time of his death was the Reporter for the Restatement (Third) of Torts:
Liability for Physical Harm (Basic Principles) published by the American
Law Institute.
“Gary was the premier torts scholar of the day, probably this
generation,” commented Professor Michael Green of Wake Forest Law
School, who has co-authored with him twice, “It’s a joy to work with
an academic as accomplished as Gary.” Columbia Law Professor Lance
Liebman, who was his classmate at Harvard Law School, a fellow torts law
specialist and now director of the American Law Institute stated, “Gary
Schwartz was a champion of interpersonal discourse and friendship.” UCLA
Law Professor Paul Bergman, who had worked with Gary Schwartz for over
thirty years said, “Gary was a first rate scholar who was not only
devoted to torts but to legal education. He knew ‘who was writing
what’ and kept in touch with people from all over the country and the
world. His recreation was talking about sports, attending sporting events,
and especially, playing softball and tennis. His death will leave a huge
and probably irreplaceable hole in the faculty tennis foursome; he was a
wonderful man." UCLA Law Professor Alison Anderson, concurred,
“Gary was deeply engaged in his work. He loved to work in torts, loved
to teach torts, and students loved to learn from him. He was deeply
immersed in the law school. He participated in the personnel process, the
hiring, and really enjoyed the faculty-student softball games and
participating in sports with friends.” A Cleveland native, he was a
loyal Cleveland Indians baseball fan who could discuss the tactics of the
Tribe with the same enthusiasm and authority he brought to torts, but he
adapted to his adopted city of Los Angeles by sharing Dodger season
tickets with several faculty members. He also loved books, fine art
photography, opera, drama--both live and filmed--and good food. He also
served on the board of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Legal Services
Society.
Jonathan D. Varat, Dean of the UCLA School of Law commented, “To his
students he was boyish, endearing, encyclopedic, and brilliant. He brought
to his remarkable and insightful scholarship a deep sense of history, a
pragmatic sense of economic reality, and a keen sense of justice.”
Gary's sister, Joanne Gillespie, remarked, "As family members we
were always amazed at the number of friends Gary had and the care and
attention he gave to maintaining those friendships."
Professor Schwartz had been diagnosed earlier this year with a brain
tumor. He is survived by his mother, Betty Schwartz of Cleveland; a
sister, Joanne Gillespie of Kensington, Maryland; a brother, Ken Schwartz
of Garrett Park, Maryland; a niece and three nephews.
The UCLA School of Law will also host a memorial for Professor Schwartz
in the fall. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations in Professor
Schwartz's memory to the UCLA Foundation/Law, Box 951476, Los Angeles, CA
90095-1476, Attn: Dean Jonathan D. Varat.
(Obituary taken from:
http://www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/bios/schwar_g/)
See the curriculum vitae
