Con Law and Employment Law Giant Bill Murphy Has Passed Away

It is with deep sadness that I must report to the labor and employment law community the passing of Bill Murphy.  Bill's passing has special resonance with me because even though I never met him in person, back in 1962 he was terminated from Ole Miss Law for having the audacity of teaching Brown v. Board of Education as the law of the land. I can only hope to achieve half as much as Bill did in the areas of constitutional and employment law.

Alvin Goldman (Kentucky) has more about Bill:

I have been asked to pass along the sad news that Bill Murphy, professor emeritus at North Carolina, died this past Saturday. For those who did not know him, Bill was a distinguished teacher and scholar in the constitutional law field as well as in the labor and employment law field.  He was a man of considerable courage and integrity who, as a member of the University of Mississippi law faculty in the bad old days, published scholarly discourses explaining why his state was obliged by law to obey the Supreme Court’s school integration decision.  In addition, as chair of the University of Missouri faculty senate he faced down the school’s president when, in response to anti-war demonstrations, student academic freedom and due process were under attack.

Bill’s scholarly work was marked by thoroughness and clarity and he was a superb speaker and teacher.  He co-authored the first full-fledged employment discrimination course book, and in the early 1970s guided the Labor Law Group through one of its most innovative and productive periods. Additionally, in the mid-1970s Bill prepared a highly regarded study committee report that proposed reforms to strengthen the National Labor Relations Board, and in the mid-1980s he served as President of the National Academy of Arbitrators.

On a personal basis, Bill Murphy was an especially charming guy with a great sense of humor with the result that he was both loved and respected.

Rest in peace, Bill.

PS