Huguenard, Aaron H.

English

Notre Dame Law School: NDLScholarship

Notre Dame Law ReviewVolume 24 | Issue 2 Article 12-1-1949Dean Konop: A Quarter of a Century at NotreDameAaron H. HuguenardFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlrPart of the Law CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Notre Dame Law Review by anauthorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact lawdr@nd.edu.Recommended CitationAaron H. Huguenard, Dean Konop: A Quarter of a Century at Notre Dame, 24 Notre Dame L. Rev. 145 (1949).Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol24/iss2/1NOTRE DAMELAWYERA Quarterly Law ReviewVOL. XXIV WINTER, 1949 No. 2DEAN KONOP: A QUARTER OF A CENTURYAT NOTRE DAMEThe school year of 1948-49 marks the twenty-fifth anni-versary of Dean Emeritus Thomas F. Konop's professorshipat Notre Dame. In commemoration of his long and loyal ser-vice to the University, the College of Law, the profession, thealumni, and in particular to the students of the college and toTHE NoTm DAntE LAWYER, THlE LAWYER has asked Mr.Aaron Huguenard, prominent South Bend attorney, long afriend and formerly a teaching colleague of Dean Konop, towrite an appreciation of the Dean and his work both at NotreDame and in his other endeavors.-EDITOR.Notre Dame lawyers residing in South Bend are mostfortunate in the opportunity of knowing and living withmen who are on the faculty of the Notre Dame Law School.This privilege is not always appreciated until we travel afarand meet old classmates who avidly devour all news of theiralma mater and who especially crave with unfeigned nostalgiadetailed information about their old law professors. Com-parisons sometimes lead to needless offense but I am surethat none of Dean Konop's fellow teachers will be resentfulwhen I record that during my wanderings over many yearsalways and everywhere Notre Dame lawyers have in particu-lar inquired solicitously about his health and well-being.This is as it should be.Many men will reach three score years and ten; many willaccumulate more worldly wealth than Dean Konop has. OfNOTRE DAME LAWYERcourse there will be for most men families and all the prob-lems of raising children. Some men will achieve the honor ofhigh office; others will become prominent lawyers. For stillothers there will be the rarefied atmosphere of great scholar-ship. But in the decathlon event of life's Olympic gamesthere will be few records equal to Dean Konop's.Perhaps the success of a family is accidental. I don'tthink so. And while I would be the last to deprive Mrs.Konop of the credit which is a mother's due, I think in thelitany of the Dean's virtues there should be first mentionedthe monument which is forever evidence in three fine sonsand a lovely daughter. Refined, courteous, good, able chil-dren just do not happen. They are only the product of livingand forever sacrificing parents, father as well as mother.Dean Konop has always had a profound and abiding lovefor his fellow men. His interest has never been the super-ficial pattern of the professional greeter. It is somethingreal and extremely sincere. No one ever talked to the Deanwithout knowing a deep sympathy. No one's appeal for aidhas ever been refused.His sense of humor is delightful. His skill at narrating thehumorous episode makes men hang on his lips. His recollec-tion of things past is amazing. And the twinkle that comesinto his eyes when he dips in the reservoir of a rich and activelife to illustrate a point is positively magnetic.Many able lawyers feel that they cannot afford to give oftheir time for the good of society. Not so with the Dean.Although the children were small and Washington was ex-pensive and a law practice had to be suspended, the Deanspent six years as a congressman. They were active yearswhen momentous legislation was enacted. They includedthe four years of Wilson's first term.There was much controversy over our early workmen'scompensation laws. Socialism was taking over the govern-ment, so the opposition said. Strong men were needed to ad-A QUARTER OF A CENTURY AT NOTRE DAME 147minister such experimental and radical statutes. And DeanKonop again left his law practice to serve the state and so-ciety. For five years he was a member of the Wisconsin In-dustrial Commission.In between times, the Dean was a trustee of his homestate's Board of Vocational Education and a trustee of StoutInstitute. We pass hurriedly over numerous clubs and so-cieties in which he was constantly giving of himself.And then, after twenty-five years of practicing law andlaw making and law administration, the Dean came to NotreDame to assume his greatest assignment, the responsibilityof administering the law school. A quarter of a century,looking ahead, seems a long time; but I know that lookingbackward, the years between 1923 and 1941 in particularsped by for the Dean. They were busy years, years of actionand achievement and anxiety for the success of young menambitious to succeed in the law. They were the years whichsaw Notre Dame meet the standards of the Association ofAmerican Law Schools; which saw THE NOTRE DAME LAW-YER born and grow to an outstanding legal periodical; whichsaw the faculty increase and the student enrollment double;which saw the present building of the law school built; whichsaw the education and graduation of hundreds of successfulNotre Dame lawyers. While the Dean retired from the ac-tive administration of the law school in 1941, being succeed-ed by Clarence Manion, the present Dean, he stayed on asDean Emeritus and Professor of Law, and his inspirationand learning have continued to influence the law school, itsstudents, and its professors.I might dilate at length on the Dean's virtues as an admin-istrator; on his tact in handling men and teachers; on hislearning in the law and his excellence as a lecturer. But suchthings go without saying. I prefer rather to emphasize theextremely rare gift which the Dean possesses: the gift of im-parting to young men an appreciation of the fact that they148 NOTRE DAME LAWYERare going to follow a noble and a dignified profession. Thereare many men who do not appreciate the importance of theirvocation in a democratic society. Those men did not pro-cure their education in the halls where Dean Konop has solong held forth.The Dean's countless friends hasten to congratulate himon the completion of his twenty-five years of great serviceat Nctre Dame and wish him and Mrs. Konop many longand happy years.Aaron H. Huguenard.

Dean Konop: A Quarter of a Century at Notre Dame

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Dean Konop: A Quarter of a Century at Notre Dame

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