GEOFFREY HAZARD Obituary

Name: Memorial service for GEOFFREY HAZARD
Start: 2018-01-27T19:00:00.000Z
Location: University of Pennsylvania School of Law

HAZARD--Geoffrey Cornell

Jr., legal scholar, has died at age 88. The oldest son of Geoffrey Cornell Hazard and Virginia Perry, he attended Swarthmore College and Columbia Law School. Hazard began teaching at Boalt School of Law in Berkeley in 1958. In 1964, he moved to the University of Chicago where, in addition to teaching at the Law School, he was Executive Director of the American Bar Foundation. In 1970, he began a distinguished tenure at Yale Law School, becoming Sterling Professor of Law. His students there included many future leaders in academia, politics, and the judiciary. Hazard succeeded Herbert Wechsler as Director of the American Law Institute. In 1994, he left for the University of Pennsylvania Law School. His final academic post was at Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, where he became Emeritus in 2014. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth O'Hara Hazard; by three children from his first marriage to Barbara Jackson Hazard, James Gardiner Hazard, Katherine Wade Hazard, and Robin Hazard Ray, and six from his second marriage, Susan Pinto, Jennifer Pinto Martin, Douglas Pinto, Jr., Carolyn Pinto Haury, John Starrett Pinto, and Geoffrey Cornell Hazard, III as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They will remember their adored Papa with love and admiration, for his patience, generosity, and caring support for their diverse ventures. A memorial service will be held at University of Pennsylvania School of Law on January 27, 11am.

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Published by New York Times on Jan. 13, 2018.

Memories and Condolences
for GEOFFREY HAZARD

6 Entries

Leif Clark

January 24, 2018

I remember Geoff from my involvement with the ALI Transnational Law project, for which Jay Westbrook was the reporter. But my most unique memory of him came in print, in the form of a brief submitted in a bankruptcy case, in which he advocated that, if a company liquidated prior to the occurrence of an accident involving one of the company's products, there was no longer any property interest at issue, and thus no due process implications should a tort victim later claim that its future claim somehow survived the bankruptcy. No one -- no one -- but Geoffrey Hazard could have made that argument, not only with a straight face, but in a way that was compelling. He was a legal giant, of a breed no longer found that often.

January 20, 2018

Professor Hazard taught civil procedure in his first class at Boalt, our class 1961. Hazard from the start was amazing, brilliant, demanding, engaged and caring.Not much older than many of us we were so privileged.
Got to know Hazard and his first wife Barbara quite well and we still treasure a wonderful wedding gift salad bowl from them.
Many great memories. When interviewing for out SF firm at Yale was walking in the hallway and a classroom door was open and heard an unmistakable voice, Hazard was lecturing in his usual forceful manner. And then more recently he attended a Boalt class dinner reunion and we had a great visit. His memorable contributions will be remembered for a long time

Cameron Baker

Steve Blum

January 15, 2018

Professor Hazard, my civil procedure professor in 1987 and 1988 at Yale, was a giant and a model of both intellect and conduct to all his students. He had a gruff exterior and a warm heart. I am sad to learn he died.

Bart Lee

January 13, 2018

Thank you, Professor Hazard for an interesting and enlightening Fall of 1968 in the Windy City. Civil Procedure, I learned, can be law at its best, although that realization did not come to me while reeling from your questions. I'm very happy my son had the benefit of your teaching 20 years later at Hastings.

Margie Greenblatt

January 13, 2018

I worked for Geoff for 8 years, During that time I was fortunate enough know this very generous, caring, honest and principled man. I am forever grateful for the privilege of knowing and learning many life lessons from this extraordinary man.

Judith Mears

January 12, 2018

Geoffrey Hazard was my first year Civil Procedure professor at the University of Chicago Law School in 1968. He was a brilliant (and demanding) teacher, and was the very first person to teach me "how to think like a lawyer" -- an absolutely critical skill that served me well for the rest of my law school education and career. He was articulate and extraordinarily quick-thinking on his feet as he surveyed the classroom, with a great sense of humor, too. He was very willing to spend time with students outside the classroom as well. If you wanted to learn the law, he wanted to teach you about the law. I am deeply grateful for having been his student.

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