Robert Woodruff Hamilton

Robert Woodruff (Bob) Hamilton, 86
AUSTIN, Texas
-
Robert Woodruff (Bob) Hamilton, a longtime and widely-respected law professor, lawyer, and legal education writer, died at the age of 86 in Austin, Texas on Jan. 13, 2018.
Bob Hamilton joined the School of Law at the University of Texas at Austin in 1964. For the next 40 years, he taught thousands of students the basics of contracts, business associations, and related subjects until retirement in 2004. A popular teacher, he also wrote numerous law textbooks. During the height of his career, some of his textbooks were in use at the vast majority of US law schools, evidence that supports that this intelligent man, gifted in his law ability, was also very good at making his field understandable to others.
Bob was a stalwart friend to many, had a sense of humor that his wife Dagmar sometimes describes as impish, and was quietly devoted to his family. He enjoyed socializing with colleagues, neighbors, friends, and while at Maine Law, invited both students and faculty out to his and Dag's island home. Bob was drawn to informed conversation-typically social, economic, political, or technological discussions interested him the most-and encouraged all voices to be heard. If you had an assertion and support for your argument that might be different from his, you had his attention.
Bob was devoted to the law, but was not given to talking about his field outside the law school. He believed that law should craft the best results. The underdog should have a fair shake. Skepticism and inquiry were valued, perhaps more than specific knowledge.
Bob enjoyed teaching immensely. In the spotlight of the classroom he set an example, modeling the skills needed for outstanding lawyering: command and concise articulation of relevant facts and law, the argument, verbal jousting. He earned several teaching awards from his students.
Bob's work ethic was legendary. During summers, he arose before six a.m. and worked at his home computer on whatever he was writing until the rest of the family awakened. He would pause to enjoy breakfast with them before returning abruptly to his office, ready to finish the same sentence where he had stopped. He worked all morning until it was time to meet the mail boat and pick up his daily newspapers. In the afternoon, he napped, swam, spent time with his grandchildren, and sometimes took them out for a boat ride.
Bob was born in Syracuse, New York on March 4, 1931 to budding economists Irene Till and Harold Glasser. The couple divorced the following year; for the earliest years of his life Bob lived first with his maternal grandparents, Edward and Frances Till in Syracuse, and then in boarding school at a tender age. In 1937, Irene married Walton H. Hamilton, a renowned economist, law professor at Yale University, and New Deal policy maker in Washington. "Hammy" adopted Bob and changed his name to Hamilton. After attending public schools in the Washington D.C. area, Bob spent his junior and senior years at the Kiskiminetas Springs School in western Pennsylvania, graduating valedictorian in 1948.
Bob chose to attend Swarthmore College. He majored in economics and math, swam varsity, and joined Phi Sigma Kappa. Most importantly while at Swarthmore, he met his future wife, Dagmar (Dag) Sjostrom Strandberg, who was a class behind him. He graduated with High Honors in 1952.
Bob next attended the University of Chicago Law School on a 3-year, full-tuition scholarship. Bob and Dag married in June 1953 in Philadelphia following Dag's college graduation. She entered the Chicago law school that fall, also with a 3-year scholarship, as Bob started his second year. Bob published in and was managing editor of the Chicago Law Review, was a member of the Order of the Coif, and graduated second in his class in 1955.
Bob clerked for Justice Tom C. Clark during the 1955 term of the US Supreme Court. He, Dag, and their children continued to live in the Washington, DC area for the next decade.
Bob next joined the law firm of Gardner, Morrison, and Rogers, first as an associate and then as a junior partner. Attorney Seymour Sheriff was an excellent corporate law mentor to Bob. But after eight years, teaching law became more and more appealing to Bob. He received competing offers from the University of Virginia and the University of Texas Law Schools. He chose Texas and never looked back.
At Texas, Bob taught mainly Administrative Law, Business Associations, and Contracts. In addition to teaching and writing, he supported the legal systems of Texas and the US, serving on many panels and committees over the years. In the 1970s, he chaired hearings on radioactive waste management at Hanford, WA and Carlsbad, NM and served on an FDA panel reviewing the operation of rules on new drugs. He was Research Director to the Administrative (Law) Conference of the US in 1973-74. In addition to textbooks, he wrote many articles, reviews, and contributions to other legal books. At retirement, his casebook on corporations was in its 8th edition.
Bob taught as a visiting professor at the law schools of the Universities of Minnesota, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Washington University in St. Louis, and Maine. He loved living in Maine part-time; he respected the Maine Law Faculty and liked the students. He also taught at Queen Mary College of Law in London and was a visiting fellow at Wolfson College in Oxford.
Bob served for 12 years as Chairman of the University of Texas Co-op. Under his counsel and leadership, the Co-op experienced a period of substantial growth. Bob was especially proud and honored when the Co-op established the Robert W. Hamilton Book Awards, which annually recognizes new books written by UT faculty.
Bob served as councilman to the City of West Lake Hills, (Austin), 1968-1970, as chairman of the Zoning and Planning Commission, 1983-1987, and in other civic duties.
Bob is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dagmar; children, Eric Clark (Jan Jackson), Randy (Jennie Caughran), Meredith (Miles Draycott); and seven grandchildren: Elizabeth, Katherine, Austin, David, Margot, Nathan, Celia. For many years, the family has spent time together at Bob and Dag's summer house on Cushing Island, in Casco Bay, Portland.
A memorial for Bob will be held on Saturday, Feb. 17 2018, at the Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church. The service will be at 11 a.m., followed by a catered lunch.

Bob was a dog lover.
A memorial gift in Bob's
name may be sent to:
Guiding Eyes for the Blind
611 Granite Springs Road
Yorktown Hts, NY 10598