Philip Boswell Mears

Philip Mears died suddenly at home on April 24, 2025 at age of 75.
He was born in Wilmington, DE and grew up in Springfield, MO. He attended Grinnell College where he met Julia, class of '70. He graduated and they were married in 1971. It was a turbulent time and Philip was then, as he always was, an activist with a voice of reason.
Philip drew a low draft number and therefore was faced with the decision about service in Vietnam. He knew he would not be able to bear arms, so he applied for conscientious objector status with his draft board in Missouri. It was one of the first non-religious based applications to be granted.
As his alternate service, he then worked for 2.5 years at the Grinnell Community Day Care Center as a preschool teacher, for which he found he had an aptitude – he was always wonderful with children. He and Julia moved to a big farmhouse in the fall of 1971 where they lived with a rotating group of friends in what they called the Malcolm Heights Collective – as they viewed themselves to be suburban Malcolm. They were all going to school in some way and chored for the neighbors, learning how to operate the milk machines, kill and clean chickens, and can all kinds of produce.
While living on the farm, Philip went to law school at the University of Iowa, graduating in 1977. He recognized that Malcolm, Iowa wasn't in need of a lawyer, so he and Julia moved toward Iowa City, first living in Riverside and then moving to town in 1979 after Maggie was born. They later welcomed their second child, Katie, in 1981.
He first practiced with Tom McDonald then started his own firm in 1979 with Richard Zimmermann; the firm grew and shrank as people came and moved on. Julia joined them when she graduated law school in 1980. The focus of his practice was always people who were or had been in trouble with the law. His most recent work was on sex offender registration modification cases. He made much of the law in this area, having four cases before the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court of Iowa in 2024, three of which he won, two of them in the same week in December. He sometimes took pro bono cases at the request of hospitals that couldn't discharge disabled elderly sex offenders because of the impossibility of placing them in nursing homes. He and a colleague also handled the federal case that established meaningful mental health care in the prison system in Iowa.
His representation also included other civil rights issues such as the ability of a girl to play soccer on a boys' team, a libel case brought against the New York Times in Iowa by the meat processing industry, and an immigration case in which Muscatine County wanted to be able to deport a young person with DACA status. He won all those cases.
He was respected by other lawyers and admired by his clients. During his work at the law office, he mentored 35+ young people who worked in the office while deciding to attend law school themselves. Many of them stayed in touch to this day.
In addition to being a fine lawyer, Philip was an avid gardener who had many enthusiasms: hostas, daylilies, other lilies, daffodils, aconites, epimediums, hoyas, crotons, jade plants, orchids. Over the course of 40 years, Philip transformed his ¼ acre eastside Iowa City lot into a colorful oasis filled with meandering paths, hanging baskets, and a fish pond. Philip wanted the whole community to feel welcome in the garden, and neighbors and friends often wander through. As many of you may know, he loved to talk about plants with visitors to the garden.
He combined his love of plants with his desire to do good by running a plant sale in the yard from 2020-2025, which netted over $30,000 all of which was divided between the Iowa City and Coralville food pantries.
Philip is survived by his wife Julia, his children Maggie and Katie, his daughter-in-law Elisabeth, and his grandchildren Christopher and Maisie. He is also survived by his sister, Ellen, her husband Len, and their children Julia and Emma.
There will be a memorial service at the Park Lodge at Terry Trueblood Recreation Area on May 31, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. (579 McCollister Blvd, Iowa City). A gathering will follow until 4:00. The family suggests an RSVP at: https://evite.me/uYJ6sBwm2k. Please feel free to bring a plate of cookies to share, or a display of flowers from your garden (in a vase!) if you share Philip's passion for gardening.
Memorials may be given to Coralville Food Pantry, CommUnity Crisis Center Food Bank, or New Song Episcopal Church where they were members. The plant sale at Philip's home garden will continue through the summer, and visitors continue to be welcome.
His death is devastating to his family, his profession and the community. He was a wonderful man, and we will miss him.