F. Leary Davis, founding dean of two law schools, dies at age 75
F. Leary Davis/Elon University
The only person believed to be the founding dean of two law schools has died at the age of 75.
F. Leary Davis Jr. died Thursday from leukemia and Hodgkin’s lymphoma at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the Greensboro News & Record reports.
Davis was named dean of the law school at Campbell University in 1975 and at Elon University in 2005. He retired from Elon in 2009. Both schools had reports on his death here and here.
When Davis was asked to become founding dean at Campbell, there was an undersupply of lawyers, particularly in North Carolina which was “by far last in the nation in lawyers per capita,” according to an obituary.
Prior to joining Campbell, Davis was in private practice in Zebulon and Raleigh in North Carolina. He had also served as an assistant prosecutor, according to this tribute in the Campbell Law Review.
In 2010, Davis served as acting executive director of Karamah, Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights.
