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Gerhard Casper Personal Papers
SC1603
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Gerhard Casper Personal Papers
Creator:
Casper, Gerhard
source:
Deiwiks, Ingrid
Identifier/Call Number: SC1603
Physical Description:
40.5 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1992-2020
Physical Location: Special Collections
and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged 48 hours in advance.
For more information on paging collections, see the department's website:
http://library.stanford.edu/spc.
While University Archives is the owner of the physical and/or digital items, permission to
examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made
available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction
beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or
assigns.
[identification of item] Collection Name (Call Number). Dept. of Special Collections and
University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
This collection contains: speeches and remarks, teaching materials, personal
correspondence, subject files, travel files, information on memberships and affiliations,
and calendars. Box 26 is restricted for 10 years; Box 27 is restricted for 75 years.
Gerhard Casper is President Emeritus of Stanford University and a Senior Fellow at both the
Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI Stanford) and the Stanford Institute
for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He is also the Peter and Helen Bing Professor,
Emeritus, Professor of Law, Emeritus, and Professor of Political Science (by courtesy),
Emeritus. From July 2015 to July 2016, he served as President (ad interim) of the American
Academy in Berlin and from August 2019-January 2020, he was Trustee-in-Residence at the
Academy.
Born in 1937, Gerhard Casper grew up in Hamburg, Germany. Mr. Casper studied law at the
universities of Freiburg and Hamburg, where, in 1961, he earned his first law degree. He
attended Yale Law School, obtaining his Master of Laws degree in 1962. He then returned to
Freiburg, where he received his doctorate in 1964.
In the fall of 1964, Mr. Casper emigrated to the United States, spending two years as
Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley. In
1966, he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School, and between 1979 and
1987 served as Dean of the Law School. In 1989, Mr. Casper was appointed Provost of the
University of Chicago. He served as President of Stanford University from 1992-2000.
Mr. Casper has written and taught primarily in the fields of constitutional law,
constitutional history, comparative law, and jurisprudence. From 1977 to 1990, he was an
editor of The Supreme Court Review.
His books include a monograph on legal realism (Berlin, 1967), an empirical study of the
Supreme Court's workload (Chicago, 1976, with Richard A. Posner), an empirical study of lay
judges in criminal trials (Heidelberg, 1979, with Hans Zeisel), as well as Separating Power
(Cambridge, MA, 1997) concerning the separation of powers practices at the end of the 18th
century in the United States. About the Stanford presidency, he wrote Cares of the
University (Stanford, CA, 1997). His most recent book, The Winds of Freedom—Addressing
Challenges to the University, was published by Yale University Press in February 2014. He is
also the author of numerous scholarly articles and occasional papers.
He has been elected to membership in the American Law Institute (1977) and its Council
(1980-2010)—in May 2014, he received the Institute's Distinguished Service Award—, the
International Academy of Comparative Law, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1980),
the Order Pour le mérite for the Sciences and Arts (1993), and the American Philosophical
Society (1996). During the fall of 2006, he held the Kluge Chair in American Law and
Governance at the Library of Congress. He has been awarded various honorary doctorates as
well as the German Great Cross of the Order of Merit with Star.
From 2000-2008, he served as a successor trustee of Yale University and, from 2008-2016, as
a trustee of the Terra Foundation for American Art (chairman 2010-2016). From 2000-2010 and
from 2015-2020, he was a trustee of the American Academy in Berlin; from 2000-2012 and from
2017-2021, he was a trustee of the Central European University in Budapest. He is a member
of international advisory councils at the Israel Democracy Institute (chairman 2014-2021),
the European University at St. Petersburg, and Koç University, Istanbul.
Mr. Casper is married to Regina Casper, M.D. Dr. Casper was a Professor of Psychiatry at
the University of Chicago before taking an appointment as Professor of Psychiatry and
Behavioral Science in the School of Medicine at Stanford, from which she recently retired.
She is an authority in the area of depression and eating disorders.
The Caspers' daughter, Hanna George, is an employment lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area.
They have two grandchildren.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Administrative transfer by Ingrid Deiwiks, 2022.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
College presidents.
Stanford University--Faculty
Deiwiks, Ingrid