The first time Bruce Ledewitz, Adrian Van Kaam Endowed Chair in Scholarly Excellence and Professor of Law, met fellow Professor of Law Robert Taylor, L’79, was during the summer of 1980. The two began teaching at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University that year. Taylor was 14 years senior to Ledewitz, who had recently graduated from Yale Law School. Initially, they became acquainted through scholarly pursuits.
“Robert [Taylor] created a study group of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations,
and we learned something about language,” Ledewitz said.
From that preliminary study group, Taylor and Ledewitz formed a close friendship with Taylor assuming a mentor role. As Ledewitz said, Taylor continued to teach him in all the years he was at Duquesne Kline School of Law through their shared love of learning. That knowledge flourished in the scholarly sessions they conducted jointly for more than four decades.
“It is a remarkable thing to have that type of relationship over 45 years,” Ledewitz said. Their kinship and scholastic partnership were celebrated on November 13, 2024, through the bequest of a special collection of books at the Ken Gormley Law Library at Duquesne Kline School of Law.
The collection of books was donated by Taylor and Ledewitz and includes the works they collected and studied together. Each book in the collection contains a book plate stating how the duo used said book to inform their philosophies, teaching, and selves. There will be more than 1,000 books in the collection when the cataloguing of the books is finished.
“It celebrates our relationship and gives a lot of source material to the law library,” Ledewitz said.
Ledewitz is slated to retire after this spring semester, having taught Constitutional Law for Duquesne Kline School of Law for the past 40 years. Additionally, he has written in scholarly journals and has written four books over the years. He said the two men never studied his work, although some of his volumes were inspired by their studies.
Taylor, who Ledewitz fondly refers to as a “leader of the law school and an intellectual leader” first studied physics at the University of Pittsburgh then pursued a degree at the Pittsburgh Seminary. He even studied briefly with Swiss theologian Karl Barth.
Taylor returned to Duquesne Kline School of Law for the ceremony marking the collection. It was the first time the 86-year-old returned to campus in ten years after having quietly tired, except for the celebrations of him in the Law Review. Taylor was not one who wanted to be remembered with grandeur, but is appreciative of this special collection, for the academic significance it holds for future generations.
“He came to value it but never wanted to be remembered in any way by the law school. He was excited once he got used to the idea. I think he came to feel that future generations of law students would stumble on this thing and see he studied this kind of material and think law is deeper and broader than they thought,” said Ledewitz.
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