Gerald (Jerry) Ellison Frug

Gerald (Jerry) Ellison Frug obituary, Cambridge, MA

Gerald (Jerry) Ellison Frug

Gerald (Jerry) Frug Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers on Nov. 14, 2023.
Gerald Ellison Frug (Jerry), beloved father, popular teacher and influential scholar of the law of cities died at home on November 7 at the age of 84.

He was born in Berkeley, California on July 31, 1939. He attended Berkeley public schools and received his college education at the University of California at Berkeley. He went to Harvard Law School, graduating in 1963. After law school, he clerked for the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, Roger Traynor. He then served as an assistant to the chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C., and later health services deputy administrator of the City of New York.

He began teaching law in 1974, first at the University of Pennsylvania and then at Harvard Law School, where he taught for forty years, beginning in 1981; eventually he was named the Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law at Harvard. He also held appointments at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the London School of Economics. He taught the required first-year class on Contracts nearly every year of his teaching career. His legal specialty was local government law, a field of study he has been said to have transformed. In addition to its impact in law, his work has been influential in the areas of design, planning, and urban theory. He was the editor of a casebook, Local Government Law, now in its seventh edition (now co-edited by David Barron, Richard Ford and Michelle Anderson). Among his many scholarly publications are the seminal article "The City as a Legal Concept" and his books City Making: Building Communities without Building Walls and City Bound: How States Stifle Urban Innovation. In addition to his professional work, he was also widely known as a connoisseur and collector of contemporary artistic photography, as well as a classical pianist.

A memorial celebrating his life and work will be held in 2024 at a time to be determined.

He was predeceased by his parents, James Frug and Anne Frug. He was also predeceased by his wife, Mary Joe Frug, in 1991; after her death he arranged for the publication of her collected scholarly work in the volume Postmodern Legal Feminism. He is survived by his children, Emily Frug Klineman and Stephen Frug, his son and daughter-in-law, Jeffrey Klineman and Sara Saperstein Frug, and his grandchildren Charlie, Jake and Joseph. He is also survived by his brother, Ron Frug, his sister-in-law Sharon Frug, and many nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Greater Boston Food Bank.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Sign Gerald (Jerry) Frug's Guest Book

Not sure what to say?

January 3, 2024

Ellen Davis-Zapata posted to the memorial.

November 24, 2023

Ken Sadowsky planted trees.

November 17, 2023

Barbara Hickingbottom posted to the memorial.

3 Entries

Ellen Davis-Zapata

January 3, 2024

My first memory of Jerry was in an English class in the tenth grade at Berkeley High School. The assignment was to make a presentation to the class about a selected subject. Most students chose simple subjects and presented clumsily with fear and embarrassment. Jerry spoke with confidence and eloquence, and by the end of his presentation we were all convinced that the Electoral College just had to be abolished.

I last saw Jerry a couple of years ago on a visit to Boston. He proudly gave me a tour of Harvard Law School. It was a sweet afternoon. Jerry frequently and enthusiastically attended Berkeley High School class reunions. I am grateful to have known him for more than 70 years. My sincere condolences to his family.

Group of 10 Memorial Trees

Ken Sadowsky

Planted Trees

Barbara Hickingbottom

November 17, 2023

My first memory of Professor Frug is from a Contracts class at Harvard Law School in 1984. He initially scared the heck out of me because he was so quick, intelligent, and witty, all at once. Yet he was also so inviting and insistent and engaging that you could not resist the temptation to go a round or two with him. I never expected to love contracts, but he made it impossible not to, and I ended up writing my third year paper with him on the Uniform Commercial Code-another thing I never expected to do, but that Professor Frug made somehow possible.

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Sign Gerald (Jerry) Frug's Guest Book

Not sure what to say?

January 3, 2024

Ellen Davis-Zapata posted to the memorial.

November 24, 2023

Ken Sadowsky planted trees.

November 17, 2023

Barbara Hickingbottom posted to the memorial.