John Joseph Flynn

1936 - 2015

It has been five years since the passing of Professor John J. Flynn, and although we miss him every day we (the family and friends of John Flynn) want to express our gratitude for the kindness of the people of Salt Lake City. Your support has helped us through a very difficult time, and your generosity has allowed us to memorialize him at the new U Law Building.
John Joseph Flynn was born on April 10, 1936, in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to George Ryan Flynn and Mary Woodhead Flynn. As a boy he learned to love music, gardening, and fishing-three passions that remained with him throughout his life. For a while music was something of a career for him: he played sax and clarinet for a number of bands including that of famed jazzman Maynard Ferguson. He loved fishing for trout and salmon, and his summer garden was always a delight to friends and family. His true calling was the law, and in his long and storied career he served his country and his community as a teacher, an advocate, a philosopher, and an attorney.
After graduating cum laude from Boston College and receiving degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Michigan, he joined the faculty at the University of Utah, and with his beloved wife Sheila he made Salt Lake City his home. Thousands of future lawyers and judges passed through his classrooms, and he always wanted those students to see not only the intricate problems before them, but also the people whose lives were touched by those problems. As he said so often, "Every legal decision is a moral decision."
His advice and counsel was sought time and again by the administration of the University of Utah throughout his 42 year career there: he was a fierce advocate for faculty governance and a defender of academic freedom. He was honored by the College of Law with the Hugh B. Brown professorship, and by the "U" itself in 1987 with the prestigious Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence, the University of Utah's highest honor.
As a Professor he had a reputation of caring for his students and fellow faculty and staff that was unmatched. There are endless stories of young law students who got that extra bit of self-confidence and direction from this most caring and compassionate mentor, and when illness or misfortune struck down a colleague, he was there to help and to provide comfort. Students and staff alike compared him to the fictional "Mr. Chips," the beloved teacher who was the heart and conscience of his school.
His career was so much more than that, though: John Flynn was also one of the United States' preeminent legal minds in his chosen field of Antitrust. His counsel was sought by the U.S. Senate and House, Federal and State courts, and the White House. He was particularly proud of his eight years of service as Counsel to the legendary Senator Phil Hart.
The issues John addressed on the national level were massive: energy, medicine, telecommunications, and computing. His passion was to bring fairness and balance to these industries, to insure that the people who worked in them and those of us who used their goods and services would get a fair deal. On the local level he was well known as an editorial writer and a commentator on issues dear to the residents of his chosen home of Utah. Sometimes his letters were satirical, as when he proposed a multi-million dollar sweetheart deal to build a stadium for tiddlywinks (at tax payer expense), and some were deadly serious, as in his defense of academic freedom in the face of the State's insistence that people be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus.
The one idea he said was never, under any circumstances, debatable was this: "Family comes first, with no regard for whether they are saints, sinners, or - like most of us - something in between." He is survived by his wife Sheila, the love of his life, his help-mate and confidant for nearly 50 years. He is survived by sons and daughters-in-law John and Risa Flynn, Timothy R. Flynn and Terry Ellis, and daughter Siobhan Flynn, and by his five grandchildren Shea Shannon McFarlin Flynn, John Ephraim Palley Flynn, Max Edward Palley Flynn, Tadg Rowan Ellis Flynn, and Truly Rose Flynn. He is also survived by siblings Rev. George Flynn of Lima, Peru; Patrick Flynn and wife Elizabeth of Phoenix; Joseph Flynn of Boston; and by Ann Flynn of Worcester, MA.
Finally, he is survived by the thousands of wonderful people he always called the true legacy of his long and fruitful career, his students.
The Flynn family is honored to announce that thanks to the generosity of a number of Professor Flynn's students, friends, and colleagues the Faculty Workshop room atop the new U of U Law Building will be named in his honor and will include a portrait of him. We're looking forward to visiting with many of you in the fall when the new space is dedicated.
Donations in his memory are still being accepted by the College of Law for the John J. and Sheila A. Flynn Scholarship.