MPRE


Forerunner of UNL College of Law Dies at 83

By CHRIS APONICK /
Daily Nebraskan Staff Writer
September 12, 2003

Henry M. Grether Jr., former dean of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law, spearheaded the college's largest expansion ever during his tenure.

Upon his retirement in 1990, a professorship was established in his name. Grether's main accomplishment from 1966 to 1976 as dean was overseeing the construction of Ross McCollum Hall on East Campus.

Grether died Monday at the age of 83 after battling leukemia and Parkinson's disease.

"He was the driving force that moved us to East Campus," current dean Steven Willborn said.

When Grether first started teaching at Nebraska, he did not intend to stay long, but Jane Grether said her husband discovered he had a passion for teaching law.

"He loved it so much that he stayed for over 40 years. He thrived on it," she said.

Grether was a popular professor when he started at the university in 1948, colleagues and relatives said. He was only a year or so older than many of his students at the time.

Henry M. Grether III, Grether's son, said his father made lifelong friends from this group of students.

Grether went on to become assistant attorney general of Nebraska, but in 1966 he came back to the university to be dean.

At that time, the College of Law started to grow, said Roger Krist, law professor and holder of the professorship established in Grether's name.

"We were growing and bursting at the seams," he said.

Willborn said Grether raised money and convinced university officials to allow them to build a new building on East Campus. This move was followed by a large expansion of the faculty and the student body that brought Willborn and current chancellor Harvey Perlman to the university as a professor.

In 1976, Grether III said his father returned to teaching. This commitment to teaching won him more friends. He taught many future lawyers more than just law.

"I learned the principles of honesty and integrity from him," he said.

Krist said Grether's strongest trait was how well he related to people.

"He certainly was a very treasured colleague," Krist said.