42 AUTUMN 2002
Daniel Collins (’54): 1930-2002 His demeanor was just, he was even-tempered, and he brought the wisdom of Solomon to the negotiating table. When Dan Collins spoke,
Anthony Amsterdam Receives University Professorship
everyone listened, for even those polarized by disagreement acknowledged that his was the voice of fairness and equanimity.
Professor Daniel Collins
When he passed away at his home on Sunday, June 16, at the age of 72, Collins had just finished playing a key role in smoothing the way for the New York City contract with its teachers. This last triumph came as he knew he was dying of cancer. Clearing the way for a compromise after a 19-month impasse pleased him greatly, for Collins was a legendary labor arbitrator, and helping embattled parties move forward is what he did best. He possessed a finely honed skill for cutting to the heart of issues, and he was trusted by both labor and management sides throughout his long and illustrious career. Dean-Designate Richard Revesz said, “We extend our heartfelt sympathy to Dan’s family on behalf of the generations of law students he taught with his unique combination of superior pedagogy and gentle humor. He will be greatly missed.” Collins graduated from NYU Law, where he was editor of the Law Review, in 1954. He practiced law for several years with Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York before joining the Law School’s faculty in 1961. In 1963, he became special labor
counsel to the city’s Board of Education and filled the same role under Mayor John Lindsay. In 1968, he began arbitrating labor management disputes. Thus began a career weighted with responsibility, in which his decisions affected countless lives. Collins was more than up to the task, and his reputation for being evenhanded garnered him one of only three positions as an impartial member of the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining, which is responsible for resolving statutory disputes between the city and its workers. He served in this capacity from 1980 until his death. His career as a labor arbitrator was farranging; he heard an eclectic compendium of cases over the course of his career, cases involving the police, transit, and postal workers, as well as Broadway, breweries, and the NBA. Some of his more famous cases included his ruling that the Shubert Organization had not discriminated against Vanessa Redgrave for her political beliefs; that basketball player Patrick Ewing could not become a free agent; that a contract clause allowed Tommy Tune to escape a Broadway role; and that Lea Salonga could appear in the Broadway musical Miss Saigon over the protest of Actors Equity. Collins is survived by his wife, Anne Weld Collins; his sister, Muriel Collins of Barnegat, New Jersey; and four children from his first marriage to Madeline Lee, Caitlin Ahl of Cave Junction, Oregon, Deirdre of Seattle, Charles of Santa Barbara, and Geoffrey of Brooklyn. He is also survived by five grandchildren. There will be a tribute to Professor Collins on Wednesday, October 16, at 4:00 PM at New York University School of Law, Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square South. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to (212) 998-6666 by Wednesday, October 9. Financial contributions can also be made to the Daniel G. Collins Memorial Fund.■
Professor Anthony Amsterdam, Judge Edward Weinfeld Professor of Law and Director of the Lawyering Program through 1999, recently accepted a University Professorship at NYU. The highest honor bestowed upon a faculty member, a University Professorship recognizes both outstanding scholarship and teaching. Amsterdam’s work in areas of social value and interest—free speech and press, privacy, the rights of accused persons, and equality of opportunity for racial minorities and poor people—together with his breadth of publication have made him a great asset to the Law School. He has built a career arguing issues of great public interest and serving civil rights, legal aid, and public defender organizations. Amsterdam appeared in the Supreme Court of the United States in various cases; in Furman v. Georgia in 1972, he persuaded the Court that the death penalty as it was then practiced throughout the United States was unconstitutional. Amsterdam’s innovations include NYU Law’s Lawyering Program, which he designed. The program is now a fixture of the first-year course curriculum. His academic interest in legal pedagogy and the increasingly popular experiential education have led him to not only to chair committees for the ABA Task Force on Law Schools and the Profession, but also to be honored with NYU’s Great Teacher Award in 1989. Amsterdam recently received the Kutak Award from the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, an award made annually to a judge, law professor, or lawyer who has made the most significant contribution to bringing together the legal academic community and the practicing bar.