MICHAEL SOVERN

SOVERN--Michael Ira. The Columbia Law School community mourns the death of Michael I. Sovern '55, Chancellor Kent Professor of Law, a lifelong Columbian, and one of our most distinguished alumni. Sovern earned a B.A. with honors from Columbia College in 1953 and graduated first in his class at Columbia Law School in 1955. Just two years later, he joined the law faculty, and, in 1960, became the youngest full professor in the modern history of Columbia University. He guided Columbia University through the vitriolic protests of the late 1960s, and went on to serve as the eighth dean of Columbia Law School, from 1970 to 1979. During his tenure, Sovern presided over the expansion of clinical education programs, instituted small sections in the first-year curriculum, and oversaw the hiring of the Law School's first Black and first female tenured faculty members -- Kellis E. Parker and Ruth Bader Ginsburg '59, respectively. A renowned mediator and labor lawyer, Sovern went on to serve as university provost (1979 to 1980), and as the 17th president of Columbia University from 1980 to 1993. Sovern received many awards and honors over the course of his distinguished career, including the Law School's Medal for Excellence in 1997 and the Lawrence A. Wien Prize for Social Responsibility in 2010 for his contributions to the public good. The faculty, administration, students, and alumni of Columbia Law School offer our deepest condolences to the Sovern family, including his wife, Dr. Patricia Walsh Sovern, and his children, Douglas, Elizabeth, Jeff '80, and Julie '93.