August 14, 2008
Edward T. Fagan, Jr.
The St. John’s Law School community was deeply saddened
last week with the passing of Edward T. Fagan, Jr., Professor
Emeritus and former Vice Dean.
At the request of the family, a funeral Mass was offered at
St. Thomas More Church on the St. John’s University Queens
Campus. Prior to the Mass, the family received guests wishing
to pay their respects. A luncheon followed the funeral in the
Private Dining Room.
Born in 1920, Edward Thomas Fagan grew up in New York City,
attending Brooklyn Preparatory High School before receiving a
Bachelor of Arts degree from St. John’s College in 1940.
After earning a Master’s Degree, cum laude, in Industrial
Administration from the Harvard University Graduate School of
Business Administration in 1943, he served in the U.S. Navy as a
Lieutenant on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific fleet while acting
as a lecturer on Naval Aviation. In 1947, he received his
LL.B. from the University of Michigan Law School and upon
graduation joined the law firm Bleakley, Platt, Gilchrist and
Walker.
Professor Fagan returned to St. John’s in 1948 as a lecturer at
the School of Law before being appointed to a full-time faculty
position the following year. Continuing his own education, he
earned an LL.M. in 1952 and a J.S.D., cum laude, in 1955
from New York University, where he was awarded the Founder’s Day
Prize as the outstanding graduate student.
During the course of his 45-year career at St. John’s, Professor
Fagan directed the St. Thomas More Research Institute, served as
Editor of The Catholic Lawyer, was faculty advisor to Phi
Alpha Delta and is credited with having instituted the Law School’s
Joint Degree Program with the United Negro College Schools.
The head of three dean search committees, he holds the distinction
of having been a member of every significant university and law
school committee, including having served as Chair of the Law
School’s Curriculum Committee for over 25 years.
In July of 1984, Professor Fagan was appointed Vice Dean of the
School of Law and subsequently assumed the position of Acting Dean
in April of 1990. The following year, the Faculty Council
voted to honor him with the title of Distinguished Professor of
Law, a position he held until his retirement at the end of the
1992-93 academic year.
Admitted to practice before the New York State and Federal
Courts, Professor Fagan was also a member of numerous professional
associations and committees, including the American Bar
Association, the New York State Bar Association, and the National
Legal Aid Society, and was elected to a term as President of the
Catholic Lawyers Guild of the Diocese of Brooklyn. In
service to his Church, he acted as part-time general counsel for
legal and ethical matters for the Catholic Press Association, and
conducted confidential research projects for the National Council
of Catholic Bishops, the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of
Brooklyn. His knowledge of a range of legal subjects was
shared through numerous published articles, frequent lectures and
panel appearances, and editorials written for The Catholic
Lawyer for more than 30 years.
Known for his quick wit and charm, Professor Fagan conducted a
classroom with a commanding presence and fostered in his students
and colleagues the highest intellectual and ethical
standards. As signs of the tremendous affection and esteem in
which this distinguished alumnus and colleague is held, the
University bestowed upon Professor Fagan numerous honors and
awards, including the University President’s Medal (1977), the
University Medal of Honor (1991), the Administrative Outstanding
Achievement Medal (1988), the Faculty Outstanding Achievement Medal
(1991), and the School of Law Alumni Association’s Dean John J.
Murphy Award (1991). In 1994, the Law School Faculty Council
and the University’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to confer
upon him the title of Professor Emeritus in recognition of his
immeasurable contributions to the St. John’s Community.
At the 2001 St. John’s University Law School Commencement
Exercises, Professor Fagan was bestowed yet another distinguished
alumnus honor with the conferral of honoris causa, the
degree of Doctor of Laws by St. John’s University President, Rev.
Donald J. Harrington, C.M.
Professor Fagan was the loving husband of the late Barbara
Gilman Fagan, the father of Barbara Brygider of Dix Hills, New
York; Edward of Wisconsin, John of California, Robert of Georgia;
and the grandfather of Marisa, Ilse Marie, Barbara Ann,
Gabrielle Marie, Martha Marie, Alexander Edward. He was a
U.S. Navy veteran of WWII.