Dedication.

• Author: Gilbertson, David
• Position: University of South Dakota School of Law professor John Hagemann - Testimonial

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

John Hagemann graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Law and began his teaching career at the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1968. That career spanned forty-one years, thirty-one of which he served concurrently as a professor and law librarian at McKusick Law Library. In 1998, he received the John Wesley Jackson Award for Teaching Excellence. Because of the breadth of his knowledge and experience, John became well known throughout South Dakota's legal community as a professor, mentor, consummate scholar and collector of all things scholarly, including quotations.

In the field of legal research, John Hagemann was the state's preeminent authority. His passion for research helped lead to the establishment of what is now The Hagemann Center for Legal & Public Policy Research at the USD School of Law. The Hagemann Center has two primary functions. First, it sponsors and conducts legal research projects of relevance and interest to South Dakota. The findings of every study conducted by the Center have been published in legal journals. In recognition of the quality and contributions of these studies, more than 80 percent of them have been designated as "Top-Ten Downloaded Articles" on the Social Science Research Network. The studies have been cited by various professional and think tank organizations, and have been profiled in the popular media. One study has even been cited by the Federal Communications Commission in an official report.

A second function of the Center is to act as publisher of books with special relevance to the South Dakota legal and academic communities. In this regard, The Hagemann Center Press is proud to publish posthumously the quotation collection of John Hagemann. The product of decades of compilation, A Scholar's Pursuit is an expertly organized reference resource of witty and thought-provoking quotations.

DAVID GILBERTSON ([dagger]A)

I first met John Hagemann as a terrified first year law student in 1972. At that point, I could not understand why the law library was called the McKusick Law Library because, as far as I could tell, it was John Hagemann's law library.

The very first legal writing I did was reviewed by John. Back it came with the notation, "a fine superficial effort." After I became a Justice, I would tease him about this and ask if I was doing any better? He would just smile and say something like, "further affiant sayeth not."

As has been noted, John...