Gunther, Gerald, 1927-2002

Biographical/Historical Sketch

Gerald Gunther, the leading constitutional law scholar in the United States, joined the faculty of the Stanford Law School in 1962 and was the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Emeritus, at the time of his death in 2002. Born in Germany in 1927, he immigrated to the United States with his family in 1938. He earned his undergraduate degree at Brooklyn College, his master's degree in public law and government at Columbia, and his law degree at Harvard Law School, graduating second in his class in 1953. He was then appointed to a prestigious one year clerkship with Judge Learned Hand of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, followed in 1954-1955 by a clerkship with Chief Justice Earl Warren. Highly regarded for his casebook on constitutional law, he also wrote a prize-winning biography of Learned Hand. At Stanford he was known for his passionate defense of freedom of speech on the campus.

From the guide to the Gerald Gunther papers, 1807-2002, 1940-2002, (Dept. of Special Collections & University Archives)