FARNSWORTH, E(dward) Allan 1928-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE— See index for CA sketch: Born June 30, 1928, in Providence, RI; died of prostate cancer January 31, 2005, in Englewood, NJ. Educator and author. Farnsworth was a recognized authority on U.S. contract law, and his books on the subject are considered standards in the field. The son of a physicist, his initial studies were in math and physics. He earned a bachelor's degree in the former from the University of Michigan in 1948 and a master's degree in the latter from Yale University in 1949. He then attended law school at Columbia University, receiving his LL.B. in 1952 and passing the Bar of Washington, D.C., that same year. After serving in the U.S. Air Force Reserve for a year, he took a job as assistant professor at Columbia University in 1953. He passed the Bar of New York State in 1956, and in 1959 became a full professor. In 1970, the university named him Alfred McCormack Professor of Law. Farnsworth's specialty was in contract law, and in 1971 he was asked by the American Law Institute to write the definitive book on the subject. Ten years later, he released the three-volume Restatement (Second) of Contracts, which is still considered the definitive word on contract law. Farnsworth on Contracts (1990; third edition, 2004) is also often used as a reference and citation source by U.S. attorneys and judges. Among his other works are An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States (1963; third edition, 1993) and Changing Your Mind: The Law of Regretted Decisions (1998).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, February 7, 2005, section 1, p. 13.

New York Times, February 6, 2005, p. A21.