I am very sorry to report that one of the most influential supporters of mediation in Ohio, Chief Justice Moyer, died unexpectedly today. I will miss him as a person and as a leader in the dispute resolution movement (he was a moving force behind the development of the Uniform Mediation Act and the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution). The Moritz College of Law website reports:
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer ’64 passed away suddenly on April 2, 2010. Moyer, 70, has served on the Ohio Supreme Court since 1987 and was a great friend and supporter of the College as well as many of its faculty and alumni. In 1993, Moritz honored Moyer with an honorary doctorate of law.
“Many of us had seen and worked with the Chief as recently as the past days and weeks, as he remained fully engaged with his life’s work of public service in the law,” said Alan C. Michaels, dean of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. “He leaves an extraordinary legacy that will certainly be a focus of remembrance in the days ahead, but at this moment we, his friends, cannot help thinking with great sadness about how prematurely this ending has come.”
Chief Justice Moyer earned his bachelor’s degree from Ohio State in 1961 and his law degree in 1964. He was in the midst of his fourth term on the Ohio Supreme Court, and was expected to retire at the year’s end. Moyer diligently worked on countless initiatives designed to improve systems of justice throughout the state, country, and world. He was passionately dedicated to providing citizens with improved access to the courts through alternative dispute resolution and computer technology. He also has worked with leaders of the judiciary and the General Assembly to develop family courts, a comprehensive approach to resolving criminal and civil issues confronting families.
“Chief Justice Tom Moyer served Ohio with unmatched distinction, compassion, and effectiveness,” said E. Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State University. “He devoted his career to the public good, improving our state’s justice system in countless and enduring ways, and sharing his deep knowledge of the rule of law to help emerging democracies around the world. Admired by allies and adversaries alike, Tom Moyer will be counted as one of our truly great elected leaders. Ohio State and the State of Ohio have lost one of their finest.”
When I was a law student, the only judge to whom I applied for a clerkship during my first wave of clerkship applications was Justice Moyer. (In my defense, I didn’t understand how clerkship applications worked. It wasn’t that I was all that arrogant. I didn’t get the clerkship with Justice Moyer.) He was an amazing figure in ADR. In the early 1990s, his was among the first handful of names I would hear anytime I asked around the country about who was doing interesting work. I am sorry to read this news.