Robert Lewis Cord

Noted Constitutional Scholar Cited in Supreme Court Arguments, Dies at 87

Dr. Robert L. Cord, the Matthews Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University in Boston for more than 30 years, passed away peacefully on August 30, 2022 after a decades-long illness. He was 87.

Dr. Cord was pre-deceased by his parents Edward Cord and Evelyn L. Cord, a brother, Dr. Richard H. Cord (1930-2006) and a sister Arleen Cord (1928-2011). He is survived by his nephew Edward Cord of Colorado Springs, Co; nephew and godson Richard Cord of Denver, Co; and niece Virginia Cord of Alabama. Bob is also survived by his dear friends whom he loved as family, William D. Grossi of Boston, MA and Eric Aho of Saxtons River, VT; and his godson, Graham Bouchoux of Arlington, VA.

Dr. Cord, a man with deep personal, privately held religious beliefs, was particularly well-suited to write about issues of the First Amendment's establishment clause, and the church and state issues at the core of American democracy. Cord's Protest, Dissent and The Supreme Court, written while a fellow at Harvard Law School, and published in 1971 at the height of the Vietnam war, addressed on-going problems of American democracy, notably its freedoms and the right to exercise those freedoms. It also extended a sensitve understanding of how the Supreme Court functions, a rare window, at the time, into that mysterious institution. As a result, the book became a popular compliment to many university political science texts, one of which Cord wrote (Political Science: An Introduction, Prentice-Hall, 1974). He contributed to or edited others.

Cord suffered from chronic sarcoidosis, a rare inflammatory disease that affects the immune system and organs. In 1996, weakened and with his respiratory system compromised, Professor Cord left his Northeastern University rostrum. His energetic lecturing style had captivated and engaged generations of students many of whom went on to study law, and work in government at all levels.

Born on April 21, 1935, in New York City to Edward H. Cord an attorney who, notably, had been the youngest person in the state of New York to ever pass the CPA exam and Evelyn (Lewis) Cord, a secretary to Marjorie Merriweather Post. Cord was educated in the New York public schools and went on to earn a B.B.A. in public administration in 1956 from City College (now City College of the City University of New York). Cord, who had been president of his freshman class, went on to become president of the full student body. It was these experiences that gave Dr. Cord the confidence to shape lives in a classroom.

It was also at the City College where Dr. Cord discovered his fascination with politics and often recalled the writing of his campaign speech as a turning point in his life that helped him to overcome his own fear of public speaking. His style of oration developed from close study of the great speeches by Churchill and Roosevelt, his modern heroes, a keen understanding of Greek philosophy, and belief in rhetoric as a means to persuade. These key factors, together with and a love for the films of Richard Burton and Lawrence Olivier, contributed to the punctuated clarity with which Professor Cord spoke, that however erudite, remained accessible to all his students. Cord's lectures were expressions of intellectual generosity by a man with a refined mind for the composition and conflicts of Democracy and who seemed to also understand the minds of those who drafted the Constitution, as they, too, sought to balance their private faith with public action.

Cord enrolled in the Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University earning his M.A. in 1958. For the next two years (1958-60) the budding Constitutionalist taught history at West Genesee High School in Camillus, NY. In 1962 Cord moved to Boston and joined the faculty at Northeastern University as an Assistant Professor of social studies in education. Just a few years later, in 1966, he moved to the Department of Political Science as an Assistant Professor and completed his Ph.D., begun at Syracuse, in 1967. By 1970 he rose to Associate Professor, and was listed among the Outstanding Educators in America in 1972. In 1976 as the nation was celebrating its bicentennial, Dr. Cord was elected Phi Kappa Phi and granted his tenured professorship.

During his tenure at Northeastern, Dr. Cord specialized in American constitutional law and pioneered the study of law and legal issues in the Department of Political Science. A leading national authority on the Establishment Clause, Professor Cord for many years brought the fruits of his research and writing to the students who enrolled in his courses. His renowned work Separation of Church and State: Historical Fact and Current Fiction (1982) was cited by then-Associate Justice William Rehnquist in his dissent in Wallace v. Jaffree (1985), a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Alabama's 'moment of silence' law. Others, such as Mark Tushnet of Harvard Law School writing in the Louisiana Law Review called him a "crank" and pushed back on his recent publication calling it "inconsistent" and adding it "weakens the historical case for the most rigid separationist views." Today, Dr. Cord's work has reached a younger generation of academics.

Dr. Cord took an active role in University affairs, both in and out of the classroom. In addition to teaching both undergraduates and graduate students, he was an elected member of the Faculty Senate for ten years, holding several offices and serving on the Senate Agenda Committee for six years, including a term as chairman, and also serving on more than forty other Senate committees during that time. He was elected by the faculty to the Presidential Selection Advisory Committee in 1973, serving as vice chairman, and held membership in a variety of other University committees, including the Advisory Committee of the College of Criminal Justice, University Planning Committee, University Distinguished Faculty Speaker Series Committee, and the Northeastern University Press Editorial Board.

In 1984, the title of Matthews Distinguished Professor, the university's highest faculty distinction was conferred on Dr. Cord, but it was Northeastern's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1990 which he cherished because the nominations for this award were made by the students themselves.

Cord's reputation grew and extended beyond Northeastern. His inclusion on panel discussions at universities around the country demonstrated the extent to which his research was being utilized in the national Church-State debate on the political and judicial levels where Cord found welcome endorsement from Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-NY). Such recognition likely extended from Cord's January 1982 cover story in the National Review which was put into the Congressional Record, in its entirety, by Sen. John East (R-NC) who, at the time, was Chairman of the Senate Sub-Committee on Separation of Powers, and owing in part, to his friendship with the magazine's founder, noted conservative intellectual William F. Buckley. In Boston, another of Cord's close friends, the charismatic "libertarian" radio broadcaster David Brudnoy, hosted a popular nationwide call-in talk show on WBZ. Dr. Cord was a frequent reliable guest as the two men were neighbors and Brudnoy regularly hosted his show from his own living room. Cord who often countered Brudnoy's contrarian positions with scrupulous academic detail was nevertheless pegged, perhaps wrongly, as a capital C conservative though his positions and views on society were adherently liberal. He was every bit the New York Democrat as reflected in his sense of civic duty forged early in his upbringing and public education; he was born in 1935 after all, and steeped in Roosevelt and Churchill.

"To be of service" was Dr. Cord's guiding principal. During his 34 years of active teaching at Northeastern, Dr. Cord estimated he taught over 20,000 students. During retirement Dr. Cord continued to mentor students, loved playing bridge, listened to classical music, and happily shared his knowledge of the British royal family. His positive influence on others was immeasurable. Dr. Cord spent his life sharing the personal and academic stories that shaped him and his knowledge of the world, and he was interested in hearing the stories of those around him. For those fortunate to have known him, his love for us made our lives so much better. He will be greatly missed.

A celebration of Bob Cord's life will be announced at a later date. Per his request, his cremated remains are to be scattered off the coast of Wellfleet, MA, where Bob loved to vacation during his summers off from teaching. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Robert L. Cord Endowed Book Fund at Northeastern University (https://giving.northeastern.edu/live/profiles/1245-robert-cord-endowed-book-fund). This fund was established by Bob's former students who knew how important it was to him to lower the barriers to an affordable education.