Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Condolences on David Gregory
It is with great sadness that I write to report (thanks, Mitch Rubinstein, for letting me know) the passing of long-term and much-beloved Professor David Gregory (St. John's). Here's an excerpt from his law school obituary. Remembrances in the form of comments to this post would be much appreciated.
David L. Gregory [] served as the Law School’s Dorothy Day Professor of Law from in 1982 to 2017.
Professor Gregory came to St. John’s after working as an equal employment opportunity counselor with the Postal Service, a labor relations representative with Ford Motor Company, and an attorney with a prominent management labor and employment law firm in Detroit. He brought a keen intellect, a love of teaching and learning, and an encyclopedic knowledge of rock and roll to the classroom, where he enthralled generations of students.
And his students were always at the heart of Professor Gregory’s endeavors at the Law School, where he founded the Center for Labor and Employment Law with a focus on the importance, and the sanctity, of doing good work in the world. “The Center strives to show students, by engagement and example, that they can be successful practitioners who also give back to their communities,” Professor Gregory said early on.
Under his leadership, the Center met its mission with a range of offerings, from courses in Employment Discrimination, Labor and Employment Arbitration, Public Sector Labor and Employment Law, and ERISA to international conferences and symposia in Dublin, at the University of London, and at Cambridge University, to distinguished guest speakers at the Law School―including three chairs of the National Labor Relations Board, a Solicitor General of the United States, a former EEOC chairman, AFL-CIO presidents, His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan, the former Archbishop of New York, and Cesar Chavez, founder of United Farm Workers of America, among others.
rb
Update: I'm adding this link to a tribute to David from the NYU LEL News - see p. 10. Thanks to Sam Estreicher for the heads-up.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/laborprof_blog/2019/12/condolences-on-david-gregory.html
Comments
David was a wonderfully nice, caring, generous man, and he did a lot of great work. He will be sorely missed.
Posted by: Joseph Slater | Dec 18, 2019 11:47:32 AM
I am very sorry to hear of David’s passing. David was a generous mentor to me throughout my law teaching career. He gave freely of his time whether it was to discuss the most recent labor law development, his school’s labor program, feedback on a paper I asked him to review, or to give some asked-for career advice. I always enjoyed seeing him at conferences and will miss his endless charm and wit. RIP David. You will be sorely missed.
Posted by: Paul Secunda | Dec 18, 2019 12:01:15 PM
I met David early in my teaching career, and he was so kind and supportive, then and throughout the years. He will be greatly missed.
Posted by: Rebecca White | Dec 18, 2019 1:05:27 PM
I met David Gregory a few years ago for a gathering at St. John's to honor then-NLRB Chair Mark Pearce. David was such an advocate for his students and filled the room with energy when he spoke. He's done so much for labor law. As a new legal academic, I appreciate him even more for what he's contributed to the scholarship. He will be missed.
Posted by: Jonathan Harris | Dec 22, 2019 1:08:26 PM
I first met David about 17 years ago. He was a labor arbitrator and I was a lawyer with the teacher’s union. We had many cases together. I did not always win (nor did I deserve to), but I always understood why. When David went on a sabbatical, he asked me to teach his class. That was the start of my adjuncting career.
David was always very supportive of me. He encouraged me to write and reviewed my scholarship. Later, I would review some of his, but I could not keep up with the amount of scholarship he produced.
David was beloved by law students. He understood that labor law did not end in the classroom. He regularly put on conferences at St. Johns and introduced students to lawyers. He got many more students’ jobs than any placement office could. As many of you know, he moved to Oregon about 2 years ago to be closer to his son. Several students literally flew across the country to visit him in hospice care.
David was a beloved father, husband and a devoted friend to me and hundreds of others. He was a true gentleman and a scholar. Our profession, and indeed to world suffered a tremendous loss. Quite simply, I never met such a nice man.
Mitchell Rubinstein, Adjunct New York Law School
Administrative Law Judge for City of New York
Posted by: Mitchell Rubinstein | Dec 18, 2019 4:14:56 AM