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As we remember and celebrate the life and accomplishments of UW School of Law Dean Emeritus John R. Price, it is fitting to go back 26 years ago to his retirement from the law school, a place that meant so much to him, and to which he gave a proud legacy.

The Spring 1997 edition of Profiles, a former ������Ƶ publication, begins, “For more than 27 years, Professor John R. Price has been a pillar of the Law School faculty – a highly effective and popular teacher; a legal scholar who "wrote the book" in his field of estate planning; for seven years, an extremely able and farsighted dean and administrator; and recently an active member of the UW Retirement Association Board of Trustees. Now he too has retired from the University of Washington and been given the honorifics of dean emeritus and professor emeritus by faculty vote.” The tribute that followed included remarks by Michael Garvey (’64), UW President Emeritus William Gerberding, Professor Penny Hazelton, among many others.

Now, upon Price’s passing, Penny Hazelton wrote us, “John’s leadership in the Dean’s position through the difficult 1980s was handled with his trademark grace and integrity. His contributions as Dean, Professor, Lawyer, and Author influenced decades of young lawyers. John nurtured the roots of ������Ƶ so the school could play important roles on the national stage of legal education. His legacy lives on. Thank you, John.” Touchingly, the school of law has received many such letters from the community in recent days.

Paging through correspondence written to Price upon his retirement, it is apparent that he was a man ahead of his time. As a strong proponent of equity and inclusion; a visionary for leveraging philanthropy in support of public education; and as a mentor who understood that our professional selves exist within a broader context of life.

Tamara Lawson, the Toni Rembe Dean of UW School of Law, said, “As I begin my second year as dean at UW School of Law, I take heart in being able to follow in footsteps such as these. I applaud and share his vision for ensuring the law school attracts and retains excellent and diverse faculty and students while serving as a preeminent force for public good, a leader in the legal community, and a generator of groundbreaking scholarship on critical issues of our day.”

In the coming months, Dean Lawson is making plans to honor Dean Emeritus Price alongside other ������Ƶ deans and esteemed colleagues with tributes that can be displayed for students and visitors to pause and learn more of our history.

The Seattle Times for Dean Emeritus Price on July 2.