Daniel Meltzer, Law Professor, Remembered as Kind Teacher

Daniel J. Meltzer ’72, a professor at Harvard Law School who previously served as a legal adviser to the Obama administration, died late last month of cancer. He was 63.

Meltzer attended both the College and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review. According to Dean of the Law School Martha L. Minow, Meltzer graduated from the Law School at the top of his class.

After working as a law clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, Meltzer returned to the Law School to join its faculty in 1982. As a professor, he was known for teaching a course on federal courts and the federal system which, according to Minnow, covers one of the most technically difficult subjects in the field of public law.

Meltzer is remembered by colleagues as a superb teacher, lawyer, and friend.

“He was just a delightful human being. He was the sort human being you wish every human being would be,” said Law School professor Richard H. Fallon, a close friend of Meltzer who co-taught the federal courts and federal system course with him.

“His co-authors view him as the touchstone of excellence and analytic rigor,” Minow said.

Both Fallon and Minow added that Meltzer was universally adored by his students. “The very best students sought out opportunities to take courses with him, thinking, ‘If I can learn to meet Meltzer's standards, it will make make me a better lawyer and better human being,’” Fallon said.

According to Minow, Meltzer was extremely devoted and kind to his students and “never too busy to talk.”

“His kindness is a quality that people across the community describe,” she said, adding that he is remembered this way not only at Harvard, but at the White House as well.

A memorial service for Meltzer was held at the Law School on Wednesday. Many notable figures in the field of law from Harvard and Washington, D.C., attended, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice and former Law School dean Elena Kagan.

Meltzer is survived by his wife, Ellen Semonoff, and his two sons, Joshua and Jonathan.

—Staff writer Jalin P. Cunningham can be reached at jalincunningham@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @JalinCunningham.