Heinz, John

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Duquesne Law Review Volume 20 Number 1 Article 3 1981 Dedication - Ronald Ross Davenport - Educator, Activist, Leader John Heinz Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/dlr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation John Heinz, Dedication - Ronald Ross Davenport - Educator, Activist, Leader, 20 Duq. L. Rev. 1 (1981). Available at: https://dsc.duq.edu/dlr/vol20/iss1/3 This Front Matter is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Duquesne Law Review by an authorized editor of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. Duquesne Law ReviewVolume 20, Number 1, Fall 1981RONALD ROSS DAVENPORT-EDUCATOR,ACTIVIST, LEADERThe Honorable John Heinz*It is with great personal pleasure that I congratulate the Du-quesne Law Review on its decision to dedicate the first issue ofVolume 20 of the Review to Ronald Ross Davenport. Yours is afitting tribute to a man who, during his association with Du-quesne, has done much for the University, its students, and thePittsburgh community at large.Most of your readers will think of Ron Davenport as Dean ofthe School of Law: it is to the Law School that Ron has given hisfirst allegience and affection since his arrival at Duquesne as anAssistant Professor in 1963. A decade's service as Dean, scholar-ship on questions of constitutional law, numerous assignments onbehalf of the University, and the dedication of a new Law Schoolbuilding are some of his best-known achievements while at Du-quesne. Although these contributions have been vital to Du-quesne, they reveal only a fraction of a man of enormous energyand commitment.Born in Philadelphia, and generally a stranger to Pittsburghon his arrival, Ron Davenport brought with him to our city theconviction that all Americans must be brought into themainstream of society. After receiving his law degree from Tem-* United States Senator. Senator Heinz is Chairman of the Senate SpecialCommittee on Aging, and serves on the Finance Committee; the Banking, Hous-ing, and Urban Affairs Committee; and the Energy and Natural Resources Com-mittee. B.A., Yale University (1960); M.B.A., Harvard University (1963).Duquesne Law Reviewple and his LL. M. from Yale, he could have gone easily andlucratively into private practice. Ron Davenport, however, hasnever sought the comfortable or the expedient. To the contrary,by putting into practice this philosophy of inclusion, he has oftenbeen exposed to considerable personal risks, particularly whendoing what he believed in was unconventional, controversial, orthreatening to others who did not understand his goals.Ron Davenport has always found life's challenges to be ir-resistible. In the early 1960's, his activism led him south toJackson, Mississippi. It was there, in the wake of the ominousdisappearance of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, that a27-year-old Ron Davenport went to court to fight ClevelandMcDowell's reinstatement at "Ole Miss." Later in that decade, onthe evening of the tragic death of the Reverend Martin LutherKing, Jr., the same commitment propelled him, only a fewminutes after the news broke, into the streets of the Hill Districtto urge reason and calm in the face of fear and violence.One of-the things with which Ron Davenport has always beenconcerned is the role of a leader in today's society. "The qualityof leadership," he wrote in 1974, "is determined by the leader'sability to put the unacceptable in acceptable form .. .the trulygreat leader is one who, while helping the people to understandtheir fears and insecurities, educates them to focus on their realneeds and long-term interests." Perhaps this conception ofleadership helps to explain why Ron Davenport welcomesresponsibility in even the most adverse or difficult cir-cumstances.It should not have been surprising that, when the opportunity-came in 1970, Ron Davenport rose to the challenge and becamethe Law School's Dean, and in the process became the first blackperson then or since to hold such a position in any American lawschool.As Clinton Rossiter would point out, people in positions ofpower necessarily assert their influence in many different ways.Ron Davenport is no exception. As evidenced by his presidencyof the Pittsburgh Urban League, later position as a trustee ofthe National Urban League, and membership on the boards ofmany community and eleemosynary institutions, he has given un-tiringly of his time and talent to promote the promise of oppor-tunity for all, irrespective of race or color. His counsel has beenVol. 20:1Dedicationsought constantly by many in academia, business, and govern-ment, and he has become a successful entrepreneur in his ownright by founding the Sheridan Broadcasting Corporation.Ron Davenport believes that it is the contribution one makesto his fellow man that counts. He is one of those rare personswho, having climbed to a pinnacle of success, feels no compulsionto stay king of that particular hill. He is fortunate indeed to bestrongly and totally supported in all that he undertakes by hiswife, Judy, a successful professional in her own right. Theirthree children, Ron, Jr., Susan and Allison, reflect these samevalues that have been so evident to me during the sixteen yearsof our friendship. I believe that Duquesne University should becongratulated on having had the fortune and foresight to haveavailed itself of Ron's extraordinary leadership ability for somany years. As of December 31, 1981, he has left behind a finan-cially and academically strengthened law school. I know hisstudents and colleagues will join me in wishing him continuedsuccess in every endeavor.1981

Dedication - Ronald Ross Davenport - Educator, Activist, Leader

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Dedication - Ronald Ross Davenport - Educator, Activist, Leader

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