Dean Emeritus and Carl M. Gray Professor Emeritus, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Passed by the IU Indianapolis Faculty Council at their meeting on January 10, 2017.
Dean Emeritus and Carl M. Gray Professor of Law Emeritus William F. Harvey died in Indianapolis on November 17, 2016, at the age of 84. Bill, as he was known to his many friends and colleagues, received his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri in 1954, and then joined the U.S. Navy, serving in both Korea and Indochina. After leaving the military, he attended Georgetown University School of Law where he received his J.D. degree in 1959 and his LL.M. in 1961.
While in law school he was a member of the Georgetown Law Review, served as president of the student body, as well as president of the Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity. Also while still in school, he worked in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
After receiving his J.D. degree he clerked for the Honorable Thomas D. Quinn, on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. He also worked for Chief Judge Leo A. Rover, on that court. After receiving his LL.M., he was the law clerk to the Honorable John A. Danaher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and also worked for the Honorable Warren E. Burger, who later became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
He was a professor of law at the Washburn University Law School in Topeka, Kansas, where he collaborated with his law student and friend Dr. M. Martin Halley, a cardiac surgeon, to develop the first widely used legal and medical definition for determining whether a person is legally considered dead. Their work was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and elsewhere.
In 1968, Bill joined the faculty of Indiana University at what was then the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. He served as dean from 1973-1979, stepping down to become the school’s first titled professor, the Carl M. Gray Professor of Law. He formally retired in 1996.
A devoted mentor to generations of students, he received the coveted Black Cane Award for best professor (chosen by the student body) multiple times throughout his career at IU. He was also an active volunteer at IU, serving for ten years as a member of Indiana University's Rhodes and Marshall Scholarship Committee.
In addition to his family, Bill truly loved his country, the legal profession, and the IU McKinney School of Law and would help the school and its alumni in any way he could throughout his long and distinguished career as a leader in the legal and academic community.
For over two decades, he served on the Indiana Supreme Court's Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure and lectured in the Indiana Bar Review course. He also lectured at the Defense Information School of the U.S. Department of Defense, and presented numerous Continuing Legal Educational programs. He was admitted to practice in Indiana, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Kansas. He was an active member of the Indiana State Bar Association.
Professor Harvey was a prolific writer of casebooks, as well as law review articles and columns. He was very well known for his strong support of the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society, which is dedicated to ensuring that low-income individuals in central Indiana have access to quality legal assistance for civil disputes. He served as a member of the LAS board of directors for more than thirty-five years.
President Reagan appointed him to be a member of the Advisory Committee on Accreditation of Colleges and Universities to the U.S. Secretary of Education, and to be Chairman of the Board of Directors of the national Legal Services Corporation.
In 1985, President Reagan selected him for nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, Illinois, although he was never confirmed.
In the 1996, Governor Evan Bayh of Indiana appointed him as Sagamore of the Wabash, one of the highest honors bestowed in the State of Indiana.
An avid history buff, he was a member of the United States Naval Institute, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Society of Descendants of Washington's Army at Valley Forge.
THUS, BE IT RESOLVED, that this memorial resolution be placed in the minutes of the Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis Faculty Council with a moment of silence observed in honor of Dean Emeritus Harvey.
This resolution is written on behalf of Dean Emeritus Harvey’s colleagues, friends, and family and will be shared with them.
Prepared by Andrew R. Klein, Dean and Paul E. Beam Professor of Law, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law on the IU Indianapolis campus.