The Fordham Law community is saddened by the death of Fordham Law Professor Thomas Quinn, who died August 1, 2017, at his home in Fort Lauderdale.
He was 92 years old.
Quinn served on the faculty from 1963 to 2003 and was the inaugural Sidney C. Norris Chair of Law, the first fully endowed public-service professorship in the legal community. He was a nationally recognized authority on the Uniform Commercial Code and author of several books including Quinn’s Forms and Practice Under the UCC.
He also was a driving force in the founding of the School’s Public Interest Resource Center and for many years chaired the School’s Student/Faculty Public Service Committee.
“Tom was a hands-on mentor who rolled up his sleeves and got the best out of students—often enabling them to accomplish more than they had thought possible,” said Fordham Law Dean Matthew Diller, who served on the faculty with Quinn. “Nothing gave Tom deeper satisfaction than the combination of serving those in need and working with students.”
Among his many pro bono activities, Quinn served for the AALS as chairman of the Community Legal Services Committee from 1960 to 1970, co-chairman of the National Conference on Teaching Anti-Poverty Law, and chairman of the Paralegal Committee where he represented the AALS in hearings before Congress. In 1965 he was instrumental in creating the Storefront legal assistance clinic with the Stryker’s Bay Community Action Project, and in 1967 he began a legal internship program to prepare students to practice before administrative agencies and the New York Courts.
He also served as legal counsel to Fordham University’s Institute for Social Research and authored several reports on drug addiction and federal and state drug control laws, in addition to devoting significant time to the Methadone Diversion Study sponsored by the National Institute of Drug Abuse. From 1979 to 1980, he was a consultant to the Federal Reserve Board on Simplification of Truth-in-Lending. He also served on New York Governor Hugh Carey’s special task force on law enforcement.