November 21, 2008
Our University community is saddened by the death of Mary C. Daly,
Esq., Dean of the School of Law and John V. Brennan Professor of
Law and Ethics. Since coming to St. John’s in 2004 from Fordham,
where she served as James H. Quinn Professor of Law, Director of
the Graduate Program, and co-Director of the Louis Stein Center for
Law and Ethics, she has been an energetic and effective leader. We
shall miss her presence among us and will be forever grateful for
all that she has been and done for us.
Her impact on the School of Law has been nothing short of
transformative. She established a global focus within the School
through the creation of new academic programs and initiatives.
Among these was the L.L.M. program in U.S. Legal Studies for
Foreign Law School Graduates, launched in fall of 2008, that
provides opportunities for lawyers from other nations to achieve a
grounding in the United States legal system. Another is a program
that permits St. John’s Law School students to spend a summer
studying in Rome. She also increased the number of law clinics,
which provide students with invaluable opportunities for both
practical experience and service to underserved individuals within
the community.
She infused within the faculty a desire to enhance their scholarly
and professional development activities. And she did so by example.
An accomplished and prolific scholar with a national and
international reputation, she published widely in law
journals and also authored several books. In addition, she broke
ground through her expertise in the emerging discipline of
transnational ethics, a field which has assumed increasing
prominence with mergers among Asian, American, and European law
firms to form a truly global legal community.
Her outreach to alumni was extraordinarily effective. She traveled
throughout the country, hosting receptions and other meetings
designed to keep graduates abreast of activities at their
alma
mater. And she increased gifts to the School of Law
substantially during her tenure as Dean.
I know that members of our University community will want to share
their memories of Dean Daly, to come together to remember her at
the prayer service slated for next Tuesday, and to pray with her
family at the wake and at the funeral service which we will hold on
campus on a date that will be announced soon. I am sure I speak for
all of us in extending our deepest sympathy to her family as well
as our appreciation to them for sharing her with us. St. John’s is
a stronger and better University because she was part of it.
Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M.
President, St. John’s University