Schwartz, Law School Icon, Dies at 89 (continued)
By Larry Teitelbaum

Schwartz also set an example for students that some still remember to this day. Tom Moorhead L’59 was in Schwartz’ first-year criminal law class. One day he and three classmates went to Philadelphia City Council chambers to hear Schwartz testify against an ordinance that would have required people with criminal records to register when they came to Philadelphia. Schwartz didn’t show. Disappointed, Moorhead called Schwartz at home. Schwartz, still in bed, told Moorhead there was no use testifying because the bill would pass no matter what he said. Moorhead told him he and the other students counted on him coming.

Twenty minutes later, Moorhead recalled, the doors flew open and in strode Schwartz, whose testimony derailed the bill. “We learned that one person can make a difference, and it was a pretty powerful lesson for a first-year law student,” said Moorhead, deputy under secretary for International Labor Affairs in the Bush administration.

Intense and pedantic in the classroom, Schwartz also had a lighter side. Schwartz enjoyed a spirited game of squash with faculty and liked to entertain in his rambling art-filled Victorian home near Penn’s campus. Visiting faculty, students and other people from all over the globe were always welcome.

His zest for life also shines through in his book Studying Law for Fun and Profit, whose cover sports the motto “To Be Only A Lawyer Is To Be Half A Lawyer.” Tellingly, his book explores the charms of Philadelphia in depth. Emeritus Professor Ralph Spritzer, now at Arizona State University’s College of Law, said when he joined the faculty in 1968, Mr. Schwartz drove him around Philadelphia for two hours. “Lou’s tour of the city was a staple. (He) provided this to all newcomers. He knew every nook and cranny,” Spritzer said.

Although Schwartz was a visiting professor at Harvard, Columbia, Cambridge and the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies at London University, and recruited by Harvard, he never strayed from Penn until after he retired. Schwartz finished his career at the University of California Hastings College of Law – where he taught until age 83 - but his love affair with Penn and Philadelphia endured.

“He was devoted to this place … I’m sure it was hard for him to leave, Curtis Reitz said.

Mr. Schwartz is survived by his wife, Mimi, and Johanna and Victoria Schwartz, daughters by his first wife, Berta Wilson.