J. Keith Mann, a nationally recognized legal scholar and labor arbitrator who was part of the Stanford Law School community for more than 50 years, died at Stanford Hospital on November 27, 2006. He was 82. Mann joined the faculty in 1952, was associate dean for academic affairs from 1961 to 1985, and served as acting dean in 1976 and again from 1981 to 1982. He achieved emeritus status in 1988.

“Keith was really one of the leaders of a new emerging group of post-World War II arbitrators. He was highly regarded in labor law and labor arbitration,” said Professor of Law Emeritus William B. Gould IV in the Stanford Report. Gould also emphasized the tremendous amount of respect students had for him.

Born on a farm in Alexis, Illinois, in 1924, Mann served as a naval officer during WWII and with the occupation forces in Tokyo and Korea; he later went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Far Eastern Studies and a law degree from Indiana University. While serving as a clerk for Justice Wiley B. Rutledge during the 1949 term of the Supreme Court, he befriended fellow clerk Warren Christopher ’49. “Keith had many superb qualities, but the one I remember best was his acute sensitivity to the needs and hopes of others, personal and professional,” said the former secretary of state.

J. Keith Mann - Remembered

During his career, Mann rose to prominence as one of the foremost labor arbitrators in the country, helping settle labor disputes for U.S. presidents—including negotiating an agreement between the Southern Pacific Company and railroad clerks during the Kennedy administration and handling an extended dock strike for President Nixon. Mann also served as special master for a Supreme Court case (United States v. Alaska, No. 84, Original) involving a boundary dispute between the United States government and the state of Alaska.

Mann is survived by wife Virginia; his children, William, Marilyn, Kevin, Susan ‘88, and Andrew; and three grandchildren.