Zig: A TributeExcerpted from the LawSchool's official tribute tothe late Professor Zig Zile,written by Gordon B.Baldwin, Evjue-Bascomemeritus professor of law.

'\VThen a colleagueW with the character,

vigor, and value ofZigurds Zile dies, it leavesour school more barrenand less interesting. Nomember of our faculty pos-sessed a broader experienceand background for lawteaching and research. Histeaching and his researchcovered a wide range-torrs, civil procedure, landuse planning, Soviet legalstudies, comparative andinternational law.

Foley and Lardner-Bascom EmeritusProfessor of LawZigurds L. Zile died on November26, 2002, after a short but acutebout with cancer. He had agreed toreturn to teaching a first-year lawcourse rhree months earlier to fillan unexpected vacancy and hadnearly completed that assignmentwhen felled.

Zig was born in Riga, Larvia,in 1927. His family suffered undera year of Soviet occupation andthree years of dominarion byGermany. During his unusualschooling in Larvia and Germany,he achieved fluency in Larvian,German, Russian, and French.(Later in his career he gainedknowledge of Spanish and someFinnish.) He spoke and wrotecultivated and direct English. Fornearly two years, the InternationalRefugee Organization employedhim as a translator before heentered the American army in1950. He achieved the rank of

Zigurds L. Zile

sergeant and became a naturalizedU.S. citizen in 1953. His familymoved to Milwaukee, and Zigsupported himself as a sheet metalworker and carpenter. TheUniversity of Wisconsin-Madisonawarded him a B.A. in economicswith Phi Beta Kappa honors in1955, and his law degree in 1958.He served on and published in theWisconsin Law Review. An LL.M.from Wisconsin followed in 1959,and a fellowship at Harvard LawSchool culminated a few years laterin their award of an S.].D.

The law faculty markedZigurds as a potential teacher earlyin his studies, and he was appoint-ed an assistant professor of law in1961 after completing his residencyat Harvard. Already he had publishedfour highly regarded law reviewarticles on land planning inWisconsin and France. He was

I

IN MEMORIAMawarded tenure early in1964, and elevated toprofessor in 1966. Hetook emeritus status in1990, but continued toteach half time for severalmore years.

The Law Schoolappointed Zigurds withthe expectation that hewould devote himself tothe comparative lawarena, with specialemphasis on the Sovietlegal system. Zigurds didthis, and more. Hebecame highly successfulas a teacher and an experton the law of torts andproduct liability.Doubtlesshis popularity in teachinga basic, first-year tortsclass stimulated manystudents to undertakecomparative law studieswith him thereafter. TheStudent Bar Association

awarded him the honor of Teacherof the Year in 1977. His mentor-ship also spawned teachers. Severalformer students became accom-plished scholars of Soviet andRussian law.

An extensive research contracton Soviet Law from the UnitedStates Arms Control Agency(which produced a book), and aFulbright professorship in Finlandin 1977 confirm Zigurds's broadinterests and extraordinary compe-tence. He returned for an additionalappointment in Finland in 1982,where he examined materials onLarvia unavailable to him in Larviaitself. His skills and knowledge ofthat civil law system brought him aFord Foundation-sponsored programto improve legal education at thePontifical Catholic University ofPeru. There he encapsulated hisbasic disposition "to rejoice withcaution and despair with restraint."

www.law.wisc.edu/alumni GARGOYLE 41

IN MEMORIAM

Zig: A RemembranceFrom remarks delivered at a memorialgathering for Professor Zigurds Zileon December 1,2002.

Robert L. RabinProftssor of Law

Stanford University'VJhen I arrived at theW University of Wisconsin Law

School in early September 1966, justhired as a novice torts teacher, myinitial stroke of good fortune wastotally unexpected in character-the location of my office.Next doorwas the pre-eminent legal historianWillard Hurst, whose sheer presencewas a source of great inspiration toa young man in his mid-twenties,embarking on an academic career.And immediately across the corri-dor-indeed, when our office doorswere open we looked directly ateach other-was a fortyish, ratherdecorous-looking scholar of Sovietlaw (and more importantly for me,a torts teacher as well), whose life isbeing remembered today, ZigurdsZile. Willard would playa mentor'srole at that early stage in my career.Zig would become a colleague anda friend ("buddies," as he wouldsay in later years) for life.

I cannot remember preciselyhow long it was before I beganbringing my sandwich to his officeat noon, and turning what com-menced as an occasional sharedlunch hour into a daily routine.But before long, we were morethan colleagues hashing out tortsissues. Our lunchtime conversationsranged over the troubles on campus(it was, one must recall, the late'60s), our home lives, and the worldat large: the tragic, the mundane,and the absurd, at a level of easyintimacy that would become thehallmark of our relationship.

I want to emphasize theabsurd, because Zig had a marvelouseye for the preposterous pretensionsof self-important types from everywalk of life,whether in Washington

42 GARGOYLE Spring/Summer 2004

or closer to home. He followed thenews avidly and was a keen observerof the social scene. But always therewas a sense of distance. He remainedgrounded in a set of core values-finding a center in repose and reflec-tion far from the crosscurrents ofeveryday life, perhaps best exempli-fied by his love for the untrammeledexpanses of northern Wisconsin.

Zig in Latin AmericaJoseph R. Thome

Emeritus Professor of Law

Since I think I am the only personon this faculty who saw Zig in

Latin America, perhaps a few wordsare in order.

In 1968, our Law School wasselected to work with youngprofessors from the Law Schoolof Catholic University in Peru.Its very dynamic dean, JorgeAvendano, decided that instead ofhaving American professors cometo Latin America, as was the norm,he would send young professors toWisconsin for about a year to learna version of the Socratic or case-study teaching methods. Zig, perhapsbecause he was quite familiar withthe civil law system prevalent inboth Europe and Latin America,was selected as our faculty personresponsible for this program.

At one point, Zig traveled toboth Peru and Chile with Avendano,to study the law and developmentprograms there. I became their hostfor their week or so in Chile. Thatweek was a very valuable academicexperience. But much moreinteresting for me was to witnessthe incredibly close relationshipthat developed between Zig andJorge. On the surface, you couldn'tthink of two more differentpersonalities. Jorge was very urbane,a sophisticated bon vivant, butbrilliant, upper-class Peruvian. Zigwas, well ... Zig: down-to-earth,frank to a fault, and not very toler-ant of pretentious people.

I always thought that thisbonding was one of the reasons forthe success of our program withCatolica of Peru. Many youngprofessors came over for severalyears, Zig worked them hard, butthey learned and loved the experienceand actually applied what theylearned to their classroom teachingand research back in Peru. To thisday they are known in Peru as the"Wisconsin boys," a term whichthose who came carry proudly.

Zig never went back toLatin America until 1998, whenCatolica of Peru celebrated thethirtieth anniversary of theCatolica-Wisconsin program, andDean Zolezzi, himself a Wisconsinboy, specially invited Zig to cometo Peru for the event. I think Zigenjoyed it to the fullest, and Iknow the "Wisconsin boys" weredelighted to have him back.

Zig as a RefugeeLawrence M. Friedman

Professor of LawStanford University

Ihave lots of memories of Zig,and all of them are pleasant. Zig

was somebody who went through alot when he was young. He was,literally, a "Dl;" or displaced person,after the Second World War. Hewas one of those refugees whoended up, as so often happens,really enriching the United States.

Zig was a wonderful person-and he had a great, somewhatmordant sense of humor. Thathumor was directed against any-thing that was stuffy, arrogant, orself-important. Zig tried to teachme Russian (I've since forgottenalmost all of it), and we actuallywrote an article together. TheRussians had stolen his countryand driven him from his home; hetook his revenge by becoming anexpert on Russian law, which hedissected mercilessly and accurately.I remember him very, very fondly.

Spencer L. KimballDean of the UW Law School

1968-1972

Spencer Le Van Kimball, legalscholar, insurance lawyer, LawSchool dean, and professor, diedon October 26, 2003, at the ageof eighty-five. Kimball was deanof the University of WisconsinLaw School from 1968 to 1972,

and also received his S.].D. degreefrom Wisconsin.

Kimball, born in Thatcher,Arizona, in 1918, made notablecontributions to the field of lawduring his lifetime and was recog-nized both nationally and interna-tionally for his work. He wasdirector of the Wisconsin StatutesRevision Project, and his workremains a model for insurancecodes to this day. Kimball wasone of the co-founders of AIDA,an international insurance lawassociation. He was also the authorof many works on insurance lawand regulation.

In addition to his work atWisconsin, he served as dean ofthe University of Utah Law

IN MEMORIAM

School, law professor at theUniversity of Michigan andUniversity of Chicago, and execu-tive director of the American BarFoundation in Chicago.

Kimball's wife of fifty-oneyears, Kathryn Murphy Kimball,died in 1990. They had six children,in addition to sixteen grandchil-dren and six great-grandchildren.In 1994, he married VirginiaBarrus Johnson, who died onemonth before he did. With thismarriage he added more children,grandchildren, and great-grand-children to his family.

After the death of his wifeKathryn, he retired to Salt LakeCity, Utah, to live by the mountainsand his siblings.

19208W. Roy Kopp '28 James C. Geisler '42 Leonard Loeb '52 David A. Saicheck '64in Naples, Florida in Madison in Milwaukee in Milwaukee

19308 Roy B. Hovel '42 Robert J. Schmidt '52 Robert D. Heidel '68George C. Berteau '33 in Sun Prairie in King, Wisconsin in Middletonin Neillsville

James F. Clark '47 Lloyd A. Barbee '55 19708Robert 1. Murphy '35 in Poynette in Milwaukee Robert Whitney '74in Pompano Beach, Florida in Madison

Philip S. Habermann '47 John Maciver '55Doris Vaudreuil '36 in Madison in Milwaukee Gerald R. Falk '76in Kenosha in Milwaukee

Norman H. Quale '47 David H. Bennett '56H. Wilson Gray '37 in Sarasota, Florida in Portage Jerome M. Ott '76in St. Louis, Missouri in Mt. Horeb

Albert McGinnis '48 Richard E. Nelson '56Willis E. Hoard '38 in Madison in Wauwatosa 19808in Beloit Ronni Gale Jones '85

Norman Rosen '48 Spencer L. Kimball '58 in MadisonE. Radcliffe Park '38 in EI Paso, Texas in Salt Lake City, Utahin Falls Church, Virginia (see article above) 19908

19508 Richard Moncada '94Gerard H. Van Hoof '38 Mark H. Makholm '50 Sverre O. Tinglum '58 in Pewaukeein Appleton in Marshfield in Green Valley, Arizona

2000819408 Byron Ostby '51 19608 Jessica M. Vianes '02Martin W. Peterman '41 in Madison James R. Cwayna '62 in Milwaukeein Albuquerque, New Mexico in Bloomington, Minnesota

www.law.wisc.edu/alumni GARGOYLE 43