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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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