George W. Dent, Jr.: Engaged Scholar.

AuthorEntin, Jonathan L.
PositionTestimonial

George Dent is retiring after forty years in law teaching. For most of that time, he has been my colleague. When he arrived at Case Western Reserve University as a visitor in 1989, he had spent virtually his entire adult life in New York City: as an undergraduate and law student at Columbia University, as a clerk to a distinguished judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as an associate at a prominent law firm, and as a professor at two Manhattan law schools. (1)

But my connection with George goes back a decade before he joined us. As a second-year law review staffer, I worked on George's first article. (2) That piece focused on derivative suits and taught me almost everything I know about the subject. (3) It attracted widespread attention from leading scholars (4) and continues to be cited regularly. (5)

George went on to be a prolific scholar in corporate law. (6) He regularly has organized the biennial George A. Leet Business Law Symposium, the proceedings of which have appeared several times in these pages. (7) In addition, George has written about other important issues that are quite distinct from his main area of specialization. He long has been concerned about questions of religious liberty and wrote a widely noted article about religious issues in public education. (8) Several years later, he wrote one of the principal papers for a symposium on religion and the public schools in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Lee v. Weisman, (9) which held unconstitutional a prayer at a middle school graduation. (10)

More recently, George has turned his attention to same-sex marriage, even while continuing to write in his main area of specialization. He is a staunch defender of traditional, heterosexual marriage. (11) Some of his work on gay rights reflects his longstanding concern for religious liberty. (12) George and I have very different views about same-sex marriage, and we have debated our differences several times, including at the law school and on Cleveland's public radio station. Through it all, we have agreed to disagree while maintaining mutual respect.

Of course, sharp intellectual disagreement is the stuff of academic life. George has helped to bring vitality to the law school precisely because he has strong views and does not hesitate to express them. But it would miss the mark to regard him as doctrinaire. Rather, he often raises questions that force others, regardless of their outlook, to...

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