Misplaced Pages

Bernard Wolfman (July 8, 1924 – August 20, 2011) was the Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School as well as its Gemmill Professor of Tax Law and Tax Policy, and the Fessenden Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

Biography

Wolfman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Nathan and Elizabeth (Coff) Wolfman, and was Jewish. In the Second World War, in December 1944 he fought in Germany. He earned an A.B. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania in 1946, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1948.

After graduation, he was a lawyer for 15 years at the firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen in Philadelphia, from 1948 to 1963, and was the firm’s managing partner from 1961 to 1963.

In 1963 Wolfman started teaching at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He was the law school’s Gemmill Professor of Tax Law and Tax Policy, and was Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 1970 to 1975. In 1976, he became the Fessenden Professor of Law at Harvard Law School in 1976, holding that position until 2007. Wolfman was an expert in tax, ethics, and lawyers' professional responsibility.

Wolfman wrote a great number of articles and essays. His also authored four books, including Dissent Without Opinion: The Behavior of Justice William O. Douglas in Tax Cases (1975).

He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1971, and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Capital University in 1990.

He was married first to Zelda Bernstein Wolfman, and after her death to Toni Wolfman, and had five children. Wolfman resided in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, as he and his family attended Beth Sholom Congregation there, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. He died from heart failure at 87 years of age in West Orange, New Jersey.

References

1. ^ "Bernard Wolfman, 1924 – 2011: Magnificent teacher, beloved mentor and renowned scholar". Harvard Law Today. August 22, 2011.
2. ^ Martin, Douglas (31 August 2011). "Bernard Wolfman, Who Sought Tax Overhaul, Dies at 87". The New York Times.
3. Tzedik tzedik tirdof: A Review of Jonathan Wolfman's Passionate Justice - Evanston Review
4. ^ "Bernard Wolfman"
5. Wolfman, Bernard (1975). Dissent Without Opinion: The Behavior of Justice William O. Douglas in Federal Tax Cases. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812276824 – via Google Books.
6. The Law Alumni Journal upenn.edu
7. From dimes to dialogue: why civil discourse matters - Opinion - The Intelligencer - Doylestown, PA

External links

• "IN MEMORIAM: BERNARD WOLFMAN," 125 Harvard Law Review 8 (June 2012)
• United States Commission on Revision of the Federal Court Appellate System. "Testimony of Dean Bernard Wolfman, University of Pennsylvania Law School," Hearings Before the Commission on Revision of the Federal Court Appellate System: Second Phase, Persuant to Public Law 92-489 as Amended, Public Law 93-420, Volume 1, p. 85 (1975)

• University of Pennsylvania Law School faculty
• Deans of law schools in the United States
• Deans of University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Lawyers from Philadelphia
• Lawyers from Cambridge, Massachusetts
• 2011 deaths
• University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences alumni
• University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni
• Harvard Law School faculty
• 1924 births
• American military personnel of World War II
• Jewish American academics
• American lawyers
• Scholars of tax law
• 20th-century American lawyers
• 21st-century American Jews