Judge Robert Boochever Dies at 94

Robert Boochever, a former Alaska Supreme Court Justice and Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, died of natural causes on October 9, 2011 at his home in Pasadena.  Judge Boochever was the namesake and inspiration for the Boochever and Bird Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality at UC Davis School of Law.

Born in New York City in 1917, Boochever earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1939 an LLD from Cornell Law School in 1941. After service in the U.S. Army during World War II, he was an assistant U.S. attorney in Juneau, Alaska, and then went into private practice there.  He was a Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court from 1972 to 1980, serving as Chief Justice from 1975 to 1978.  In 1980, he was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  He took senior status in 1986, but continued to work cases until recent years.

Charles A. Bird '73, who clerked for Judge Boochever and maintained a lifelong friendship with him, made a gift to the UC Davis Law School in 1996 to endow the Boochever and Bird Chair in honor of Judge Boochever and Bird's parents, Elizabeth J. and Donald G. Bird.  The purpose of the chair is to preserve and expand understanding of the virtues necessary to a great republic, including the freedom of conscience embodied in the liberties of political, religious, informational, and artistic expression of the First Amendment; the promise of fairness made in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments; and the principle of equality expressed in the Fourteenth Amendment.  The chair was held by Professor Cruz Reynoso until his retirement in 2006, and is now held by Professor Alan Brownstein.