I am sorry to bring you news of the death of David Westfall, holder of the Carl F. Schipper, Jr. and John L. Gray Professorships at Harvard Law School, at age 78. From the Harvard press release:
Westfall possessed wide-ranging expertise in labor law, family law, and estate planning. He was the author, co-author, or editor of a number of scholarly publications. His volume on family law was published in 1994, and the fourth edition of his casebook and supplement on Estate Planning Law and Taxation (with George P. Mair and Rebecca Benson) appeared in 2001.
In a statement to the Harvard Law School community today, Dean Elena Kagan said: “Before he became a colleague, David was a teacher of mine, and he was always exceedingly generous to me. I will miss him, as I know a great many of you will. David served this school devotedly for 50 years, and we should all be grateful.”
2 responses to “Death of David Westfall”
I had the good fortune of knowing Professor Westfall first as my section leader, then as my property professor, then later as an author for my journal, and finally as an enthusiastic reference. His commitment to his students was second to none, and his generosity and hospitality set the best possible example for his students to follow. Professor Westfal was a gentleman and a scholar, and I will miss him.
I was a Canadian LLM candidate at Harvard very late in Prof. Westfall’s teaching career in 2001-02. He taught me a ton about Labour Law and went on to play a key role in my career development, first into a leading Canadian SJD program and then in getting my first tenure track job which I start in a few weeks. I am sorry I didn’t know about this earlier. He was certainly a gentleman and he will be very much missed. His legacy however will live on.