STANFORD, Calif., April 22, 2010—Howard Williams, a Stanford Law School professor and leading authority on oil and gas law, died on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at his home in Palo Alto, California. He was 94 years old.

A member of the Stanford faculty for more than forty years, Williams was the first holder of Stanford’s Robert E. Paradise Professorship of Natural Resources Law, and before that was the first holder of the Stella W. and Ira S. Lillick Professorship in Law. He was one of the nation’s leading experts on licensing and regulation of oil, gas and other natural resources. He wrote more than thirty articles and nine books in the areas of gas and oil law, property, trusts, wills, and estates. He collaborated with the late Stanford Law professor Charles Meyers to produce a seminal textbook Cases on Oil and Gas Law, an eight-volume treatise Oil and Gas Law, and multiple editions of Manual of Oil and Gas Terms.

“Williams was a groundbreaking and incredibly influential scholar in his field,” said Larry Kramer, Richard E. Lang Professor and Dean of Stanford Law School. “He will be fondly remembered as a genial and insightful teacher, whose students benefited from his knowledge and devotion.”

Born September 26, 1915 in Evansville, Indiana, Williams graduated from Washington University, earning membership to Phi Beta Kappa. He studied law at Columbia University, where he was a member of the law review and a Kent Scholar. He served in the U.S. Army from 1940-46, where he began as a private and rose to the rank of major. During World War II, he saw active duty in Europe in the U.S. Army Field Artillery.

From 1946 to 1951, Williams taught at the University of Texas Law School, serving for a time as assistant dean and acting dean. He was named to the Columbia Law School faculty in 1951 and appointed to its Dwight Professorship in 1959. He moved west to join the Stanford Law School faculty in 1963, where he taught until his retirement in 1985.

In 1994, Williams and his colleague Meyers were among three professors who were the first recipients of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation’s Clyde O. Martz Teaching Award. The award was in recognition of Cases on Oil and Gas Law and many other teaching and research contributions and accomplishments over the years.

Known for his wry humor, Williams once said of law students, “Ninety percent of the students think they should be in the top ten percent of the class.”

Williams is survived by his son, Frederick Thompson Williams (who earned both a JD and MA from Stanford University in 1976), his granddaughter, Elisha Aulean Williams Perez, and two great-granddaughters Grace Perez and Luisa Perez.

A memorial service for the late professor will be held on Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto at 625 Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto. Flowers may be sent to the Methodist Church for the service on May 22. Gifts may be donated to support student scholarships at Stanford Law School in honor of Professor Williams.

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