David Lyons, emeritus professor of philosophy and law at Boston University, has died.
The following memorial notice is by Aaron Garret (Boston University).
David Lyons
David Lyons passed away at his home on October 24th at the age of 91. He had an extremely distinguished philosophical and legal academic career.
David was John Rawls’ first doctoral student and his thesis became the groundbreaking book Forms and Limits of Utilitarianism. After a year at Oxford under the supervision of H. L. A. Hart, he taught at Cornell for over thirty years in the philosophy department (from 1964) and for over fifteen years as a professor of law (from 1979). Upon retiring from Cornell, he joined the Boston University law faculty in 1995 and later joined the Philosophy department. David retired from full-time teaching at Boston University in 2015 but continued teaching as an adjunct until Spring 2022, organizing and unionizing adjunct and part-time faculty, and helping to negotiate collective bargaining agreements.
Throughout his long and extremely fruitful academic life David’s political and moral commitments were at least as central to him as his philosophical work—in fact his political commitments preceded his academic ones.
Among the many philosophical and legal topics he made major contributions to were the study of Bentham, Mill and the utilitarian tradition, the understanding of rights, the rule of law, legal formalism and legal theory, reparations, and the history and law connected with the creation and maintenance of the color line in the U.S. He is survived by Sandra Lyons, his wife and partner of 70 years, his three children Matthew, Emily, and Jeremy, his grandchildren, and the many friends, students, and colleagues who loved and admired him.
You can learn more about David Lyons’ writings here.
