From: Goldberg, John <jgoldberg@law.harvard.edu>

Sent: Thursday 25 January 2024 03:05

To: obligations@uwo.ca

Subject: Sad News

Dear Colleagues:

As many of you will have seen, my wonderful colleague Charles Fried passed away yesterday.  The Harvard Crimson story is here. The child of parents who fled Prague to escape the Nazi persecution of Jews, Charles led a rich life of incredible accomplishment. Among other things, he served as U.S. Solicitor General (in which position he argued 25 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court), as a Justice on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and, for more than 60 years, as a member of the Harvard Law School faculty.  A scholar of unmatched breadth who wrote on myriad subjects in law, moral and political philosophy, and history as well as a steady stream of opinion pieces for major news outlets he is of course particularly well-known in private-law circles for his landmark work Contract as Promise.  Right up until the end of his life, Charles was an active member of our faculty, having just taught his final class at the end of fall term. A person of extraordinary acuity and erudition, Charles was also decent, kind, and quietly funny, as well as admirably nondoctrinaire and intellectually curious. He will be sorely missed. 

Sincerely,

John