Richard Burleson Stewart

1940 - 2023

Stewart

Richard Burleson Stewart

2/12/1940 - 11/3/2023

The family of Richard B. Stewart mourns his loss. An internationally-renowned environmental law scholar, he died at age 83 on November 3, 2023 in New York City. Dick was a consummate scholar whose pioneering work was devoted to developing more effective legal tools for tackling the nation's and the world's most significant environmental problems; a substantial portion of his scholarship was addressed to climate change. His teaching career, spent primarily at the Harvard Law School and New York University, spanned 50 years. He was the recipient of honorary doctorates in jurisprudence from La Sapienza (Rome) (the last prior recipient had been a Pope); University of Copenhagen; and Erasmus University (Rotterdam). Born in Shaker Heights, Ohio in 1940, Dick graduated summa cum laude from Yale with a bachelor's degree in History, the Arts, and Letters and was selected as a Rhodes Scholar, graduating with first-class honors in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford. After receiving his J.D. magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (no relation). Following several years practicing law at Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, he began teaching at the Harvard Law School, where he became one of its youngest tenured faculty. Over almost two decades at Harvard, where he was the first Byrne Professor of Administrative Law and joined the faculty of the Kennedy School of Government, Dick's scholarship transformed the fields of environmental and administrative law. He authored a leading textbook on administrative law with his longtime friend and colleague Stephen Breyer, and remained a highly prolific author throughout his career. Dick was deeply involved with the Environmental Defense Fund for almost 45 years, serving on its board, which he chaired from 1980-1983, as well as on its advisory board and litigation review committee. During the Watergate political scandal, he took leave from Harvard to serve as counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush nominated Dick as Assistant Attorney General heading the Lands and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, which he later succeeded in re-naming the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Stationing a confiscated (stuffed) endangered grizzly bear outside his office as a warning to scofflaws, he led the Division's staff of 400 lawyers in major litigation addressing a multitude of environmental issues, including most prominently protection of the Florida Everglades and liability for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Setting the foundation for current climate change policy, he also helped to craft the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and developed the US position for the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change. After leaving government, Dick joined the faculty of the New York University School of Law, where he was University Professor and became the first John E. Sexton Professor of Law. At NYU his work increasingly focused on issues of international environmental law and global governance; he pioneered Global Administrative Law, a new field of legal scholarship; was for half a decade faculty director of the Hauser Global Law School Program; co-directed NYU's Global Administrative Law Project; and for over 25 years was the founding director of the Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy, and Land Use Law. Through the Center, and together with his wife Jane, also an environmental lawyer, Dick assisted major efforts in the 1990's to reform environmental law and policy in China and in Central and Eastern Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Dick was a big man, in personality as well as stature, and had a keen sense of humor to match his formidable intellect. He was a connoisseur of the good things in life: eating well, laughing with family and friends, traveling the world, enjoying sports and the outdoors, time spent at the beach and swimming in the open ocean, where he was never happier. He had a deep knowledge and appreciation of the literary and visual arts, theater, opera, and music, with a lifetime love of Bach. He especially enjoyed unpacking poetry with Jane, who often read it to him aloud. Dick was a much beloved colleague and collaborator across many institutions and continents. He was also a mentor to generations of law students, who appreciated his open mind, intellectual engagement, and whole-hearted encouragement. His family deeply treasured him, and he will be terribly missed. He leaves behind his wife, Jane Bloom Stewart and their two children, Emily and Ian; three children from his first marriage to Alice Fales Stewart, William, Paul, and Elizabeth; two beloved granddaughters, Paloma and Seraphine; and his sister Elizabeth Stewart Fox. Donations should be made to the Environmental Defense Fund: donate.edf.org. Walter B. Cooke Funeral Home made the funeral arrangements. A memorial will be held on a date to be announced.