Stein Center conference: professional challenges in large firm practices: Marilyn & Edward Bellet: a dedication.

• Author: Treanor, William Michael
• Position: Testimonial

Fordham Law School is defined by its profound and extraordinary commitment to legal ethics and to the service of others. Tragically, this year we have lost two remarkable people who played a central role in establishing that commitment. It is difficult to imagine that any law school could ever have supporters more involved, encouraging, or dynamic than Ed and Marilyn Bellet. Ed and Marilyn were great benefactors of Fordham Law's ethics and professionalism programs, they were the torchbearers of a commitment that has spanned many years and generations, and they were great friends to so many of us. This issue of the Urban Law Journal is dedicated to their memory.

Marilyn Bellet was the daughter of Louis Stein, the creator and benefactor of the Law School's Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics. When Lou graduated from Fordham in 1926, he opened his own law office in Union City, New Jersey, establishing a substantial clientele and helping many of his corporate clients go public in the 1940s. In the 1950s, Food Fair stores, one of his clients, asked him to become their president. He accepted, brilliantly leading the company to remarkable success. Eighteen years later, after guiding the company to increase its sales by 800 percent, Lou Stein retired.

But as Lou ended his career at Food Fair, his role as a leading legal philanthropist was just beginning. Lou had been a supporter of the Law School for many years, but he took that dedication to a new level in the mid-1970s. Lou decided that, in the wake of Watergate, it was critical that the legal profession rededicate itself to service and to ethics. He established the Fordham-Stein Prize, which has annually honored lawyers whose careers have embodied the highest ideals of our profession. He then created the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics, which has become known worldwide as a powerful force in educating the public about the importance of the rule of law and educating lawyers about the awesome responsibility their profession casts on their shoulders. Indeed, the Stein Center is without peer in legal academia. It has helped establish Fordham as a leader--indeed, the leader--in the field of legal ethics, and it has helped educate a generation of lawyers dedicated to advancing the public interest.

The importance of the Stein Center to Fordham Law School is evident from a simple stroll down the street. Walking past the Law School building, even a casual observer would note the prominence of the...