Kansas City School of Law - Pandex Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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Cx l l Z .LJ wwf ar of-1 kL,..L.-.s- . known as a keen inspiration and a real help-mate to all of the students. All students honored and loved him, because they were always aware of the fact that he believed in them and their ambitions, and he was taken into their confidence. Mr, Dean was responsible for the installation of the Post Graduate course in our institution. He was always an ardent supporter of night schools. As he summed them up, they were an opportunity for those students who were willing to sacrifice strength, funds and recreation to acquire a legal education By lamplight, after their days work was done. His manner of forcefulness combined with his eloquence of speech swung jur- ists and other groups of learned men. He could outline any intricate problem to the complete understanding of all his listeners. One of his most successful speeches was made at the International Law Con- gress, held in Stockholm in l9Z4. He also attended meetings of that organization in Madrid in l9l3 and at the Hague in 1919, where he also made noteworthy addresses. His lectures on the subject of Corporations were considered classics. He has delivered orations before the Bar associations and Universities of Missouri, Ill- inois and Kansas that might be compared equally with those of the Grecian marvel of ancient days-Demosthenes! . Mr. Dean was much sought after during his life in the public eye and even while he was in college. Honors were always being bestowed upon him. He was awarded A. B. and LL. B. degrees at the University of Michigan and an LL. D. degree was conferred upon him at Knox College in Calesburg, Illinois. He was a member of the Kansas City, Missouri and American Bar Associations, Mr. Dean was a member of the Psi Upsilon social fraternity and an honorary member of the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. f'l'he writer had the honor of con- ferring this honor upon him while serving as Province President.j He was a valued member of the University Club, Country Club, Blue Hills Country Club, Kansas City Athletic Club and the St. Andrews society, before the last named club he made his last formal address on November 30, 1927. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts of England and a member of the International Law Congress. Mr. Dean was one of the founders and trustees of the Kansas City Art Insti- tute. He had been a president of the Kansas City Bar Association, the Past Bar Presidents Society, and of the Kansas City School of Law from the death of its first president, judge Francis M. Black, in l9OZ. Dean Edward D. Ellison and myself have had the rare privilege to know Mr Dean very intimately in and out of Law School contacts for a third of a century Out of these relationships grew a deep, lasting friendship4prized by us beyond description. Mr. Dean and Mr. Sanford B. Ladd have long remained our ideals in law. His companionship was delightful and instructive. He was keenly devoted to his friends, in fact, he never allowed them to depart from his home without ex' pressing great reluctance. His charm and personality as a host were what l would term almost a lost art. Possessed of a sense of keen, subtle humor, he thoroughly relished a good story, and one of his principal delights was music ln short, where- flll

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ship was, indeed, the quality that was ucemented with loyalty and upheld with sacrifice, that he might serve his friend. Xlr. Dean was always the proverbial friend in needfi He was never known to fail a friend in time of need and fought as conscientiously for them as he did for his oldest clients Many will mourn his death. whom he had probably never seen, but had be- friended And l quote as appropriate and timely, the words of Robert Louis Stevensonf So long as we love, we serve, so long as we are loved by others. l would almost say that we are indispensable, and no man is useless while he has a friend, He was a keen student of Life and knew the inner workings of the mind and heart of a child as well as he did of their elders. He began his career teaching a small rural school in Pennsylvania. He attended Tuscarora Academy, Juniata County, Pennsylvania, and by the time he had reached his nineteenth year he was a teacher in Latin, His birthplace was at Watsontown, Pennsylvania, When he came to Kansas City in May, l870, this growing metropolis was then but a struggling town and with it, he grew famous Mr. Dean would have been great without our Kansas City School of Law, but Kansas City School of Law and Kansas City would have become far less great without lvlr. Dean, He became active in the practice of law shortly after his arrival in Kansas City, he soon became recognized as a man of unusual ability, Therefore he was called upon to assist in drawing up the city charter and ever after that his interest and useful part in the growth of Kansas City seemed to in- crease with every year. He wanted our school of law to be one of the finest, greatest on the face of the map, and to him and Mr. Sanford B, Ladd, chiefly, belongs the credit for our Law School reaching its present proportions, Few men dared to antagonize lvlr. Dean, for he had an established reputation of being a fiery and untiring fighter, Time mellowed him as good wine mellows. His years of experience and per- sonal contacts gave him the air of the sage and the philosopher he became. His per- sonality blended itself into any environment and his forceful character mastered difficult situations, All those who came in contact with him really loved him for all the splendid qualities he possessed4the qualities of a real manaalthough not always in accord with all his views. His heart was wrapped in his work and it has been said that when he entered a Courtroom, it was as one going to a sacrament ..... And that can be easily explained for all who knew him, knew that his religion was Right and justice to All! and when he held justice in his hands, he felt that it was his solemn duty to Cod and Man to mete it out, as it should have been He always contended that for a man to be a good lawyer, he must be able to comprehend the length and breadth of a legal principle and that all government, all law is based upon the right of life, liberty and property, of itsnlsrwasuconnected actively with the Kansas City School of Law, since the time ganization and served as its president for twenty-five years. He was ever li l X l l i l 4 I I 10 1 it-wif C7

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. Qjie M11 ex 0f1Q25 Liisia- ever Mr. Dean sat, there was the head of the table. lt was this very human side of him that brought his friends to him so closely and endeared him to all of his acquaintances, , lt will be always a source of deep joy to remember that lvlr. Dean's birthday for many years was celebrated by his colleagues. On Mr. Deans eightieth birthday celebrated at the University Club by faculty members and other intimate friends of Mr. Deans in the law, he said by way of urging lawyers to a deeper sense of re- sponsibility: i'We lawyers do not exercise our rightful influence in the community. We hold too lightly therwork in which we are engaged. We stand as defenders of society against anarchy and chaos. When we have control of the moral influences in society, we are sure our country is safe, By accepting his modest estimate of himself yet strong and fearless, we know that he got results without ever having been compelled to engage in a single phy- sical encounter throughout his fifty-seven years' practice of law in the middle west. A wide reader upon many subjects, an ardent student by day and into the night, he seemed to have reached the fullness of his powers long in advance of the average man. ln the words of his friend, judge Willard P. Hall, he kept growing and broadening all the time, ln the eyes of most of us, Mr. Dean had reached the highest proportions of intellectuality and his passing from our ranks has seemed like the falling of a mighty oak in the forest. All who knew this grand old man feel a sense of personal loss in his passing, but they feel that they are a better, stronger people for having known him. While we will never see him in the flesh again, his indomitable spirit will live forever in our hearts, as an eternal monument to right thinking and right doing. As a final tribute to our beloved friend and inspiration, ul-le served all men well, - ELMER N. POWELL, Faculty Afember. ' ll2I