Page 53 - Briefcase Volume 36 Number 2
P. 53

The University of Houston Law Center lost a larger than
                                                              life presence with the passing of Dean Emeritus and Professor
                                                              Raymond T. Nimmer on Jan. 24, 2018.
                                                                Nimmer was remembered during a memorial service at the Geo.
                                                              H. Lewis & Sons Funeral home in February and in the Hendricks
                                                              Heritage Room at the Law Center in May. He was remembered for
                                                              his scholarly excellence, his sense of style and humor, his love of
                                                              baseball and the countless friendships he forged throughout his life.
                                                                Jeff Dodd ’79, a senior partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth,
                                                              frequently collaborated with Nimmer on scholarly articles and
                                                              books as a result of a friendship that began when Dodd took
                                                              his courses.
                                                                “Ray loved his students and they loved him,” Dodd said. “One
                                                              recent testament to that love of him occurred when his students
                                                              learned of his passing. They spontaneously began placing flowers
                                                              in the parking spot reserved for him at the Law Center.
                                                                “As I think about the legions of students, his webs of friendships
                                                              and the outpouring of condolences and expressions of grief from
                                                              colleagues and friends afar, I realize that we are the living and
                                                              durable testament to the extraordinary life of Ray Nimmer.”
                                                                A recognized authority on commercial law, information law
                                                              and intellectual property law, Nimmer was the Leonard H. Childs
                                                              Professor of Law. In his time at the Law Center, he served as
                  RAYMOND T. NIMMER                           associate dean from 1978 to 1985, as interim dean from 1993 to
                                                              1995, and as dean from 2006-2013. He also served as co-director
                           1944 – 2018                        of the Law Center’s Intellectual Property and Information Law
                                                              Institute. Nimmer, who earned a B.A. and J.D. from Valparaiso
                                                              University in Indiana, joined the UH law faculty in 1975.
              Remembering Dean Emeritus and Professor           Dean Leonard M. Baynes reflected on his first encounter
             Raymond T. Nimmer: Four decades of service       with Nimmer in the summer of 2014, before he formally started
                        to the UH Law Center                  as dean.
                                                                “I knew Ray best from the perspective of him being a former
                                                              dean,” Baynes said. “After our first lunch, it was clear to me that
                                                              although we were two very different people, we shared the passion
                                                              to move the institution forward. Ray was always available to me for
                                                              private counsel and consultation. He was a great former dean.
                                                                “The Law Center is thankful for having had Ray Nimmer
                                                              among its faculty and family for more than four decades, and as the
                                                              current dean of the Law Center, I can say from all of us at UHLC
                                                              that he will be deeply missed.”
                                                                Over the years, Nimmer taught Contracts, Internet Law,
                                                              Electronic Commerce, Bankruptcy, Secured Financing Law,
                                                              Copyright Law, Information Law, Sales, Contract Drafting, and
                                                              Licensing Law. He was the co-reporter to the Drafting Committee
                                                              on Revision of U.C.C. Article 2 and the reporter for the Uniform
                                                              Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA). He authored
                                                              more than 25 books and numerous articles, including a three-
                                                              volume treatise on Information Law, a pioneering multi-volume
                                                              book on the Law of Computer Technology, a treatise on Modern
                                                              Licensing Law and a multi-volume treatise on The Law of
                                                              Electronic Commercial Transactions.
                                                                The Law Center has created the Raymond T. Nimmer
                                                              Memorial Scholarship Fund to celebrate Nimmer’s life and
                                                              legacy at the Law Center. ■




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