The late Professor John Henry Merryman, who passed away on August 3, 2015,  is remembered by his colleagues in this SLS News article. 

It’s often said that the faculty makes a school. In the case of John Henry Merryman, one individual’s influence on Stanford went well beyond the classroom and the launch of a new field of law to the very art on the walls and sculptures on the grounds.

An internationally renowned expert on art and cultural property law as well as comparative law, Merryman dedicated his life to the study and teaching of law at Stanford, influencing generations of lawyers and art historians here and around the world from the time he joined the law faculty in 1953 until his death this week at the age of 95.

“John Merryman was a giant in several fields — comparative law and the field he helped create, art and the law,” said M. Elizabeth Magill, the Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and dean of Stanford Law School. “He was a devoted teacher and mentor to his students. He taught his last class, “Stolen Art,” only a couple months ago, and helped launch the careers of many of our graduates who work at the intersection of the arts and the law.”

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“John was for all of us a model of civility and old-world charm. He bore with unfailing grace the mounting burdens of age, continuing to write and teach deep into his retirement,” said George Fisher, the Judge John Crown Professor of Law and faculty co-director of the Stanford Criminal Prosecution Clinic. “And he never lost his generous interest in the work of his friends and colleagues. He was a scholar for the ages.”

“He was a truly innovative scholar, ahead of his time throughout his long career,” said Lawrence M. Friedman, the Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law.

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“John and his wonderful late wife, Nancy, were friends of my wife Ellen and me for over 50 years, since we first came to Stanford in 1965, as they were friends of countless others — literally from around the world,” recalled Ehrlich. “John had a joyful spirit that illuminated not just every conversation of which he was a part, but every room where he was present. He was a wonderful piano player of Broadway show hits, jazz and much more. John was a learner, and he was able to share his learning with his friends with such a twinkle in his eye that you quite forgot that he was really teaching you and helping along while telling riotously funny tales.”

That early enthusiasm barely dimmed in retirement, as he continued to publish — and to teach. “Stolen Art,” which he taught in fall 2014, was a new course he had recently developed, likely the first of its kind.

“Some years ago I had the pleasure of ‘taking’ John’s oral history. I was struck by the satisfying life revealed in his reminiscences, full of intellectual challenge and warm communal interchange,” said Barbara Allen Babcock, the Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita. “He was an inspiration.”

While his scholarship was international, it was perhaps most keenly felt at Stanford.

“In my 30 years as a faculty member at this remarkable place, John Merryman was clearly one of the most remarkable of my colleagues,” recalled Henry “Hank” T. Greely, the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law. “Hired here as the law librarian, he managed not one but two spectacular scholarly careers, the first as one of the leading comparative law scholars in the world and then later as one of the world’s very top ‘art and the law’ scholars. His civil law work led to him being named an Italian knight — un Cavaliero della Republica Italiana. Which brings to mind an even more important point about John. He was always a gentlemen: gracious, helpful, self-deprecating. I would say that they aren’t making them like John Merryman anymore, but they (almost) never did. He was a great scholar, a wonderful colleague and a very good person. I miss him.”

“John was a treasured colleague. We all sought his advice on a range of subjects because of his incisive mind, his wit and his insight. The world is a less interesting and elegant place without John,” said Magill. “We all mourn the passing of this wonderful man, who was a class act in every respect.”

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