Minnesota Law Mourns the Passing of Professor Emeritus Fred Morrison, Trusted Colleague, Brilliant International Scholar, and Respected Leader

It is with deep sadness that Minnesota Law announces the passing of Professor Emeritus Fred L. Morrison.

Professor Emeritus Fred Morrison was a highly regarded scholar, recognized nationally and internationally for his work and contributions to international and comparative public law. He joined the Law School faculty in 1969, teaching thousands of law students for more than 50 years. Minnesota Law marked the anniversary of his 50th year of teaching with an event in his honor and an article in Minnesota Law magazine.

During his time on the faculty, Morrison was the Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly Professor of Law from 1990 to 1998 and was named the Popham Haik Schnobrich/Lindquist & Vennum Professor of Law in 1998. He served as interim dean in 1994-95 and as interim co-dean from 2006 to 2008.

Fred Morrison is remembered as a scholarly giant in international and comparative law as well as a world traveler, whose extensive global experiences informed his teaching and scholarship. His institutional knowledge of the Law School and the University was second to none; he contributed considerably to many improvements in governance and policy at various levels at the Law School and the University throughout his time on the faculty. Dean William McGeveran, faculty, staff, and former students recall Professor Morrison’s collegial nature, his love of colorful ties, and his many, many contributions to teaching, the legal profession, the Law School, and the University. 

"Fred Morrison taught at Minnesota Law for more than 50 years and served as interim dean twice," says William McGeveran, dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law. "He pioneered our international and LL.M. programs and contributed tremendously to the governance of the Law School and the University. At the same time, he was a renowned scholar of international, comparative, and constitutional law who also represented the U.S. at the International Court of Justice, served as a counselor at the State Department, and strived to prevent conflict in South Sudan by working to develop the rule of law and constitutional infrastructure there," says McGeveran. "These major accomplishments highlight his decades-long career, scholarly impact, and influence. For those of us who had the pleasure of serving with Fred on the faculty, we deeply valued him for his friendship, brightly colored ties, puckish humor, and encyclopedic knowledge of the Law School and the University of Minnesota's history and precedents." 

"Fred Morrison was a truly selfless faculty member who devoted the majority of his career to making both the Law School and the University stronger and more relevant to national and international events," says Joan Howland, associate dean for information & technology and Roger F. Noreen Professor of Law. "He chaired and served on countless committees, usually giving others credit for his contributions and achievements. He generously shared his knowledge and wise counsel with anyone who appeared at his office door.  Fred's love for the Law School was surpassed only by his love for his family."

Professor Brett McDonnell, Dorsey & Whitney Chair and Professor of Law shared that “Fred was the person who knew everything about the history of the Law School and its relationship with the University as a whole. When we had a question about what our rules were that couldn't be solved by looking at the formal documents, we went to Fred, and he would tell us the historical precedents. I wasn't always completely sure how real the precedents were, but it didn't matter. 'Ask Fred' was our rule of decision, and it worked very well. Many times, I would go to his office for guidance when a question or problem arose. I would have to be sure that I didn't have anything on my schedule for a while because he would answer with a story. A long story. For much of that story, I would not be at all sure where it was going, but by the end, it reached an extremely useful point, and I knew more about our history. Many people must contribute a lot of time and love to make a complex institution like ours work. In my time here, Fred exemplified that better than anyone. I miss him."

Morrison was an intellectual powerhouse, holding two undergraduate degrees, two master’s degrees, a Ph.D., and a J.D. He attended Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship before earning a Ph.D. in political science from Princeton University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. “My career goal was to be a political science teacher, but I thought I had better get a law degree, too, since I would be teaching constitutional law,” he said in a 2019 interview. After teaching for two years at the University of Iowa Law School, Morrison was lured to Minnesota by then-Dean William Lockhart.

While at Minnesota Law, he taught constitutional law, international law, local government, and comparative public law.

"I had the great fortune to take three classes from Fred Morrison while in law school," says Associate Professor of Law Nicholas Bednar '16. "I took more doctrinal classes with Professor Morrison than any other professor. I have fond memories of those classes. After discussing a case, he would draw on his vast experience to explain a situation in which he had been forced to consider the University's obligations under the Constitution. He had an effortless way of making even the most arcane provisions of the Constitution seem like something we could encounter in practice. His sense of humor pervaded the classroom. Between my fall and spring 1L semesters, he took a trip to Antarctica. Upon his return, he regaled us with an impression of the penguins waddling across the ice. His impact on the Law School and the world was evident from the stories he told in class. I remember one particularly poignant conversation between him and Judge Tunheim ‘80 about their activities abroad. That conversation was the moment I realized the significant impact our faculty has on the world. 

Morrison was instrumental in developing the Law School’s LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees and establishing the Visiting Scholars programs at the Law School, working closely with Minnesota Law’s Office of International and Graduate Programs. The LL.M. degree program turned 30 last year and has been recognized as a top LL.M. program in the country.

Kara Galvin, director of International and Graduate Programs says, “I had the pleasure of working with Fred for several years at the Law School until his retirement in 2021. His knowledge of legal systems and legal education around the world was seemingly endless. He could answer any question about any country and follow it up with a delightful anecdote about his personal experience in that country. He was known as the ‘Grandfather’ of international programs at Minnesota Law, establishing and leading the LLM, SJD, and Visiting Scholars programs; in my role as director of those programs, I feel honored to have learned much of what I know from Fred."

Morrison was an international scholar, who served as a visiting professor at the University of Bonn, the University of Kiel in Germany, and Tsinghua University in China. He has served as the Counselor on International Law for the U.S. Department of State and as counsel for the United States before the International Court of Justice and in the Iran United States Claims Tribunal.

He also served on several national and international committees and organizations, including the Advisory Committee of International Law of the U.S., for the U.S. Department of State. He was a member of the Board of Curators of the Max Planck Institute on Foreign Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany, the International Advisory Board of the Walther Schücking Institute of International Law at the Christian Albrechts Universitat, Kiel, Germany, a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Ritsumeikan Law Faculty in Kyoto, Japan, and served on the International Advisory Committee of Frontiers of Law in China.

He also served as a Director of the American Society for the Comparative Study of Law and was an elected member of the American Law Institute and the American Society of International Law. In May of 1997, Professor Morrison was honored with the University President's Award for Outstanding Service.

Morrison received an A.B. from the University of Kansas, a B.A. and M.A. from Oxford University, a M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University, and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. 

The Minnesota Law community has lost one of our most cherished members. We send our deepest condolences to Fred’s family and friends. He will be missed.

This post will be updated with any information about a service or a memorial for Professor Emeritus Fred Morrison.

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