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John Dunsford Obituary
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Memories and Condolences
for John Dunsford
May 8, 2014
I grew up hearing about Jack Dunsford and his work as a labor arbitrator. He held the greatest respect and admiration from both labor and management for his integrity, sense of fairness, and brilliance. It was my great honor to later have him as a colleague. Jack was, indeed, brilliant. He was a productive scholar who brought national recognition to our School. The Arbitration Seminar that he and Joe taught for many years was groundbreaking and innovative, not only in ADR but for its practical skills approach to teaching. Most especially, though, Jack was a good friend to his colleagues. He took time to be supportive and thoughtful. I'll miss him.
Sandra Johnson
May 8, 2014
Well put Eileen...Jack will be missed.
Tim Greaney
May 8, 2014
With his integrity, constancy, and class, Jack was for decades foundational to the identity of the law school. He was everything others have here said about him.
John Griesbach
May 8, 2014
Susan et al: And besides all that, he was one of the best and most brilliant students ever to go through the law school. Even at that young age, he always had that hard-to-define air of a complete gentleman about him. He was admired as a student by the great faculty of the 50's as much as he was later admired as a professor. Ask the Hon, Joseph J. Simeone to be sure, but I think that it was the future Dean Richard J. Childress who convinced him that he would be happiest in teaching - and particularly at our law school. I am so sorry that I couldn't come to the funeral.
Eileen Searls
Professor Emerita
May 8, 2014
What sad news! Jack Dunsford served honorably and well in so many capacities.
What a wonderful example his life has been to his colleagues and former students.
Carol Needham
May 8, 2014
It was a pleasure to be Professor Dunsford's secretary for so many years at the law school. He was always thoughtful and very kind to me. A true gentleman!
Stephanie Haley
May 8, 2014
I was fortunate to know Professor Dunsford as both a professor and a colleague. He defined class and what it meant to be a man for others. He will be missed.
Mary Pat McInnis
May 8, 2014
Both Mari and Jack were very kind to me at a time when I needed every bit of kindness. I will always be grateful to both of them for their friendship and compassion.
Pam Scholl
May 8, 2014
So sorry to hear this news. He will be missed, and remembered.
Elizabeth Pendo
Vice Dean & Professor of Law
May 8, 2014
He was kind, considerate and thoroughly dedicated to teaching and the Law School.
Kathleen Casey
May 8, 2014
I have very fond memories of Jack. He was such an important part of this school for so many years.
Barbara Gilchrist
May 8, 2014
Jack was quite a guy - forceful and gentle at the same time. And wise. And as John just wrote - a "true rock and foundation of the Law School".
Jeffrey E. Lewis
Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law
May 8, 2014
Jack was a true rock and foundation of the Law School. And kind to all he met.
John Ammann
May 8, 2014
I remember Jack warmly for his strength, generosity and humor.
Joel K. Goldstein
Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law
May 8, 2014
Jack was one of my closest friends on the faculty. For years we co-taught the arbitration seminar and Jack was singularly responsible for my arbitration career. As an excellent teacher, scholar, lawyer and President of the National Academy of Arbitrators Jack did wonders for the reputation of the law school in this area, among arbitrators, and within labor and employment academia. This school owes him a debt of gratitude.
Josef Rohlik
May 8, 2014
I knew Jack as a teacher, colleague and friend. He will be missed.
Peter W. Salsich, Jr.
McDonnell Professor of Justice
Henry Ordower, Professor of Law
May 8, 2014
Jack enjoyed a great and successful career and brought credit to SLU-Law. He always was a good and supportive colleague, a model for us all. Even in instances of strong disagreement, Jack remained a gentleman and listened with care and humor to voices of those with whom he disagreed -- including me at times. I only hope to be able to emulate him in such behavior. I miss him since his retirement and will continue to miss him at the law school.
May 8, 2014
John E. Dunsford – The Ideal Christian
Like the Gettysburg Address, I have only a few words to say. With your permission and an author's license, I have changed the standard for a eulogy and omitted all the accomplishments of Jack Dunsford; from Professor of Law to President of the American Arbitration Society. Rather, I have decided to concentrate on his qualities of a Christian and Catholic gentleman and what those incidents have had on my life and the lives of some others.
Life as we know it on this third planet from the sun is very strange. As we go through life we often forget about those memorable words said on Ash Wednesday – Momento homo qui in pulvus est et in pulvis revert endi – We are mere dust and unto dust, we shall return.
Jack Dunsford and I were close friends. He was an accomplished author, an excellent, successful arbitrator and a unique auctioneer. Those of you students who had him as a professor know how smart he was and were indeed fortunate.
Fifty years ago when Jack and I were younger, we used to travel together every Christmas time to attend The Association of American University Professors meeting in Chicago. We always roomed together. And then and there is where I saw the first incident of Jack's quality of faith and his humility. Every night Jack would kneel by the side of his bed and say his night prayers.
That practice and incident followed the incident of that famous picture of a young boy 8 to 10 years of age kneeling at the side of his bed and saying, “And God Bless my Dad and Mother.” This one act of praying on your knees had a great effect on my life and affirmed my faith. I assume others sometimes doubt the deity of Jesus. Jack never doubted this deity. Jack had undoubted faith that Christ was and is the second person of the Trinity. That quality is a saintly characteristic, not a human one. To think about it, Jack was possessed of many saintly qualities – he was in life kind to others, civil to others, gentle, polite, humble, dedicated to his wife of many years, believed in Christ and his Catholic church, and loved the church. What Stan Musial was to the Cardinals, Jack Dunsford was the Stan Musial of the church.
The second incident I reflect on shows not only Jack's saintly qualities but also human qualities, such as humor. It happened during the Martin Luther King era. The night before the Selma March, Dean Dick Childress called me and said he, too, was going to Selma. I said to the dean, “Don't go, you can get hurt; but if you must go, get in the middle of a bunch of nuns” – and sure enough The New York Times front page had a picture of the tall handsome dean towering over the heads of about 20 nuns and the dean in the center.
Later at the law school, the faculty debated a letter signed by University President Paul C. Reinert, S.J., on whether it was proper for a law professor to violate a federal court injunction not to march. After a heated debate I arose, put on my jacket and said, “I know not what others may do but I will obey the orders of the federal courts.” Of course the letter and Father Reinert's signature was forged by Jack. The letter read, “Dear Joe, I have heard about your support of federal courts. I agree with you. Good work! By the way Joe, a couple of Jesuits got a speeding ticket, can you call the judge and get them fixed?”
This incident, too, had an effect on my life. Jack's reply showed humanity. So, Jack had both saintly and human qualities which made an ideal Christian. As we remember Jack, let us, each of us, try to adopt these qualities. Let each of us emulate Jack and be more like him because we should never forget the following passage from the Book of Wisdom:
1. For, not thinking rightly, they said among themselves:
“Brief and troubled is our lifetime; there is no remedy for dying, nor is anyone known to have come back from Hades.
2. For by mere chance were we born, and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been;
Because the breath in our nostrils is smoke,
And reason a spark from the beating of our hearts,
3. And when this is quenched, our body will be ashes
And our spirit will be poured abroad like empty air.
4. Even our name will be forgotten in time,
And no one will recall our deeds.
So our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud
Finally, may I say only: may Jack's soul and the souls of the faithfully departed rest in peace. Rest in peace, dear friend.
As once said of another great man, “You are now part of the ages.”
From Jack's friend and colleague, Professor Emeritus Judge Joseph J. Simeone
May 1, 2014
I send my condolences to the family. What a remarkable man, what a beautiful marriage, and lovely home to walk into when Clare and I were in high school together. "Mr Dunsford" as I knew him will be sorrily missed but led a wonderful life and now can be with the wife he loved so much.
Nan Niederlander (Amherst, Mass)
Eileen Malone
April 28, 2014
To the Dunsford Family,
I am sorry for your great loss. My mother, Mary Fehlig, admired Mari and Jack.
My memories of your Mom and Dad are full of fun and good times.
Sincerely,
Eileen Fehlig Malone
Charles Ahner
April 26, 2014
I had the privilege of knowing Jack first as a student and later as a friend. He always took a genuine, personal interest in others and I will always treasure his friendship. Jack was never at a loss for a smile and a kind word. Catching up with Jack always included colorful stories about old mutual friends such as Fr. Leo Brown, Bob Vining and others. Please accept my heartfelt sympathies on the loss of your Dad. God Bless you Jack on the next leg of your journey.
Mary Lee Dooling
April 22, 2014
My very deepest condolences on the loss of your Dad.
April 22, 2014
Bill Haine
April 22, 2014
To the family of Professor John E. Dunsford
Please accept our condolences on your loss. The Post Dispatch obit said it all, that Jack Dunsford was “a man of conscience, passion, and integrity”. We first became acquainted with Professor Dunsford in the summer of 1966 when he and Professors Richard Childress and George Wendel had a summer seminar for undergraduates at St. Louis University on constitutional law. This seminar is still one of my most memorable experiences as a student at St. Louis University. Being with these three great minds and hearts was an extraordinary intellectual event. In my opinion, it exemplified a university pursuit of knowledge. My later years at St. Louis University Law School brought a deeper appreciation of Professor Dunsford's dedication to the law as an art and a craft.
His obvious brilliance as a lawyer and professor of law was somehow buttress by his dedication to his Catholic Faith. I recall that I was surprised on occasion to see Professor Dunsford, as well as Professor Vince Immel and Professor Oval Phipps at noon mass at St. Francis Xavier Church.
Phipps and Immel, of course, as well as McDonnough and Blackmar were known to freshman law students in the early seventies as the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. Professor Dunsford seemed too nice a person to belong to that group although he was just as rigorous (but with a friendlier countenance).
Please excuse my short trip down memory lane, but it was one way to convey to you that Professor Dunsford was a great gift to us and to all who learned from him as well as to his beloved family.
Senator William Haine
State of Illinois - 56th District
David Barton
April 22, 2014
Jack Dunsford was an inspiration in my endeavor to become a lawyer. Thank you Mr. Dunsford!
Rose Ann Feldman
April 22, 2014
I still remember those marvelous lectures he gave in Labor Law class at SLU Law School, which I attended in 1982. I enjoyed every minute of that class. He was an excellent teacher and I consider myself fortunate to have been one of his students.
Gwen Miller Hall
April 21, 2014
Clare and Family,
I too thought your father was handsome and distinguished. He had a presence that commanded respect yet exuded warmth and welcome. He seemed the perfect match for your mother who was both beautiful and gracious! Your great loss is heaven's gain and I hope the wake and funeral are wonderful celebrations of a life well-lived. I'm sorry I can't be there for them, but I am with you in spirit and will be praying for all of you as you do grief's hard work. Love and prayers,
April 21, 2014
Clare, I offer you my deepest sympathy on the loss of your Dad. Father's are very special people in our lives and your Dad was one of those very special people.
Marlene Geisz Lischwe
April 21, 2014
I OFFER MY PRAYERS AND CONDOLENCES TO ALL THE DUNSFORD FAMILY. HE OFTEN WAS AVAILABLE TO ASSIST ME WITH HIS WISDOM. AND HE WILL BE GREATLY MISSED BY THE LABOR RELATIONS COMMUNITY. JIM OWENS, ST.GABRIEL PARISH.
Jim Leibrecht
April 20, 2014
Jack's children graced DuBourg with their presence, and he graced SLU Law school with his intellect, his care for students, and his faith. For me, "Prof. Dunsford", Jack, was the one man who continually insisted that the school was meant to be Cathlolic and who tried to bring that to his teaching of the law as a profession in which morality and justice--right and wrong--should make a difference.
Thanks for being that beacon, Jack. My honor to be your student.
Roseann Maloney Hughes
April 20, 2014
I always thought Mr. Dunsford was so distinguished, being a law professor, good looking (yes-slight crush there) and being so well spoken. He also was so nice and truly genuine to me, whether I was picking Clare up for a mixer or later in life running into him out and about. He always took time to chat and never failed to ask how my parents were. What a classy guy. I know you will all miss him dearly but he will always be in your hearts. PS As a friend of Miss Clare's, I hope their are no speling errors in my mesage. ( My dear husband taught me the value of comic relief)
Edmond Fitzgibbon
April 20, 2014
Clare
There was no one more supportive of me whan I was at OLS than your mother and father. They will always be in my Masses and prayers. God bles all of you
fr fitz
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