William Franklin Young

William F. Young Jr. passed away peacefully at home in Menlo Park California on March 20, 2023, close to family. He was ninety-seven.

Mr. Young was born to William Franklin Young and Allene (Smith) Young in Marshall Texas, on May 2, 1925. He graduated from Marshall High School and attended the College of Marshall for one year, awaiting his eighteenth birthday. Upon turning eighteen, he joined the army as a private to serve in World War II in the European theater as a cryptographer. At the war's conclusion he enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin and earned a B.A. in 1947, and a LL. B. from the School of Law in 1949.

Young joined the Columbia Law School faculty in 1957, as the James L. Dohr Professor of Law, teaching contracts and insurance law throughout much of his career. Prior to joining the Columbia faculty, Young served as a visiting professor at Duke University, as a graduate fellow at Harvard University, and as a faculty member at his alma mater, the University of Texas School of Law. While at Columbia he also held visiting professorships at the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, Southern Methodist University, Wake Forest, and the University of Georgia

Young is pre-deceased by his wife of fifty-four years, Phyllis (Baldwin) Young of Westport Connecticut, and is survived by his son, Andrew Baldwin Young, of Larchmont New York, daughter-in-law, Mary Noel (O'Donnell) Young, of Bethesda Maryland, and his three grandchildren, Emily May Young, Elizabeth Ann Young, and Erin Louise Young, all of Menlo Park, California.

Mr. and Mrs. Young traveled widely, often in connection with his teaching assignments around the country and abroad. Mr. Young never forgot his southern ties, keeping up with family rooted in Texas, and maintaining lands in the South with hopes to eventually resettle there. However, the North, through his abiding affection for his in-laws, kept him. Mr. and Mrs. Young lived in Greenwich Village until 1970, before settling in Larchmont New York, which was their home for much of their lives together. Free from teaching duties between academic years, the Youngs summered in Niantic Connecticut, on Long Island Sound, enjoying playing tennis, birding, and boating. Following the death of his wife in 2012, Young relocated to California to be near his son's family in 2013, enjoying the Pacific coastline and meeting friends at the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.

An internment ceremony for family will be planned at the Larchmont Avenue Church later this summer. You may make a donation to the Larchmont Avenue Church in his honor, or to an organization of your choice.