UConn Law Professor Emeritus Nicholas Wolfson, an expert in economics and the First Amendment, died on August 14, 2024. He was 92.
Wolfson taught courses on freedom of speech, securities regulation and corporate law at the UConn School of Law for 27 years, from 1972 to 1999, and retired as the George and Helen England Professor of Law. He was a member of the prestigious American Law Institute and the author of several books, including “Huckleberry Finn: Antidote to Hate” in 2003, “Hate Speech, Sex Speech, Free Speech” in 1997, “Corporate First Amendment Rights and the SEC” in 1990, and “The Modern Corporation: Free Markets vs. Regulation” in 1984.
“Nick Wolfson was a prolific and thoughtful scholar and a dedicated teacher,” Professor Emeritus Richard Kay said. “He was always willing to perform his share — and often more than his share — of the essential administrative tasks required of faculty. He had a keen and wide-ranging intellect, and his many publications demonstrate that. Nick held firm opinions but was always ready to engage in civil and productive dialog with people who might disagree with him.”
Wolfson was assigned as an advisor and mentor to Professor Willajeanne McLean when she joined the faculty in 1991. “He was formidable and incisive, but always supportive of me and generous with his time. Nick was fundamentally kind and decent,” McLean said.
Professor Richard Pomp, who joined the faculty in 1976, remembered Wolfson as an outstanding scholar and a skillful tennis player.
“Nick was one of the stars of the faculty who helped catapult us into national prominence,” Pomp said. “For many years, he had the office across from mine, which meant a spirited discussion on most days about whatever caught our fancy. He was also my tennis partner and although I was a good decade younger, it didn’t matter. He played tennis the way he debated and wrote — clever, creative, and strategic.”
“The UConn Law community is saddened by the passing of Professor Wolfson and grateful for his many contributions to the law school over nearly three decades of service,” Dean Eboni S. Nelson said. “I extend our sincerest condolences to his family.”
Wolfson was raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. and was a graduate of Stuyvesant High School; Columbia College, Columbia University; and Harvard Law School. He was a U.S. Army veteran. Before joining the UConn Law faculty, he worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where he reached the position of assistant director.
He is survived by his wife, Anne; his daughter, Amy Wolfson, her husband Andrew Futterman and their son Noah Futterman; and his son, Adam Wolfson, his wife, Dorothea Wolfson and their children Margaret, Thomas, Alex and Rachael Wolfson. Donations in his memory may be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
