Deceased July 17, 2023
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IN MEMORY
Dave Slawson was a self-effacing guy with a good sense of humor. He was also one of only two members of the class of 1953 to graduate summa cum laude—with highest honors—while also being a campus leader in many ways.
His career was highlighted by 37 years as a professor at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law.
Dave was 92 and living on Orcas Island off northwest Washington state when he died July 17 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Dave came to Amherst from East Grand Rapids High School in Michigan. He was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and president of the undergraduate section of Phi Beta Kappa, the Student Council and Scarab, the senior honor society. He majored in mathematics.
He earned a master’s degree in theoretical physics at Princeton but decided it was too abstract a subject for his career, so, after Army service, he used the GI Bill to start at Harvard Law School, graduating with high honors in 1959.
Dave was in private practice and politics in Denver when he was called to work as a junior lawyer with the Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of President Kennedy.
Eventually, Dave’s path led to USC, where he taught contracts and insisted they be written in terms everyone can understand, an indication of his commitment to justice and equality of access. Upon his retirement in 2004, the law school dean praised Dave as a “true Renaissance man. He is universally admired and ranked among the best. And he is really a nice human being.”
While retirement on Orcas was slower-paced, Dave still found time to take part in and lead community activities. He is survived by Kaaren, his wife of 54 years, and numerous devoted in-laws.
George Gates ’53