Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 23, 2005|Volume 34, Number 4

Boris I. Bittker

Boris Bittker, expert on tax law
and adviser to many deans

Boris I. Bittker, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law and a preeminent authority on tax law, died on Sept. 8 at age 81.

Bittker was primarily known as a tax scholar, but he also made important contributions to the fields of civil rights law and constitutional law, and is remembered as a beloved teacher.

Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh said, "Boris Bittker was one of Yale's greatest citizens and legal scholars, and perhaps our greatest humanist. He was a remarkably influential and wide-ranging thinker, whose humanity informed his grasp of every detail of the tax code, as well as his setting forth the case for reparations for the horror of American slavery."

Bittker graduated from Cornell University in 1938 and received a law degree from Yale Law School in 1941. He clerked for Judge Jerome N. Frank on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, then worked as a staff attorney in the Lend-Lease Administration. During World War II, he served for two years in the U.S. Army, in the 42nd Infantry Division, and earned a Purple Heart and a Combat Infantryman's Badge. After the war, Bittker worked briefly in the office of the Alien Property Custodian in Washington, D.C.

In 1946 Bittker returned to Yale Law School as an assistant professor, intending to try teaching for a short time. He stayed for nearly six decades, becoming a fixture at the school. He was promoted to the post of associate professor in 1948 and to a full professorship in 1951. He was named the Southmayd Professor in 1958 and then Sterling Professor of Law in 1970. He retired in 1983; however, he continued to come in to his office in the Law School every day and pursue his research and writing interests.

Bittker's scholarship in the area of tax law helped shaped the field.

Michael Graetz, the Justus S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law, says, "Boris Bittker was a pathbreaking scholar of federal tax law. His treatises on taxation cover the entire range of income and estate tax issues. They will be found on the shelves of every law or accounting firm in the nation which deals with tax issues."

Bittker is the author of several casebooks and treatises on tax law, including "Federal Income, Estate, and Gift Taxation" (1955), "Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders" (1959) and "Taxation of Foreign Income" (1960). Each book went into multiple editions; for example, the sixth edition of "Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders" (with J. Eustice) was published in 1994.

Bittker wrote about the ethics of being a tax lawyer in "Professional Responsibility and Federal Tax Practice" (1965). According to John Simon, the Augustus E. Lines Professor Emeritus of Law, he also "opened up a new territory for tax scholarship: the tax treatment of charitable and other non-profit organizations. In a series of five major articles, he developed the first thorough-going explanation -- and critique -- of federal and state tax policies affecting America's 'third sector' and the constitutional implications of these policies."

In 1972, Bittker published "The Case for Black Reparations," an analysis of whether African Americans could sue for reparations under current civil rights laws. The book was re-issued in 2003.

Guido Calabresi, former Law School dean and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law, notes: "His vision was enormous. No one was up to him in tax law. Yet in his work in constitutional law and race and the law, he foresaw the issue of reparations for slavery 30 years before almost anyone else."

In 1999, Bittker ventured into another byway of constitutional law, with the publication of his treatise on the Commerce Clause, "Bittker on the Regulation of Interstate and Foreign Commerce." In all, Bittker wrote at least 15 books and over 100 articles. Many colleagues remember the steady noise of his typewriter emerging from his office.

A dedicated teacher, Bittker "was the Law School counselor of dean after dean after dean," says Calabresi. "We would rely on his judgment in any kind of situation."

A devoted environmentalist, Bittker served as a trustee of the National Resources Defense Council for many years. He was also on the board of directors of the New Haven Legal Assistance Association. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute. He taught as a visiting professor at many schools and testified as an expert in front of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate numerous times.

Bittker was a traveler and hiker for much of his life. He photographed the street life he observed in Europe, North Africa and America, producing photographs that were exhibited at galleries as recently as last summer and published in the Yale Law Report.

Bittker is survived by his two children, Susan and Daniel. His wife, Anne, predeceased him. Bittker was laid to rest in a private ceremony at New Haven's Grove Street Cemetery. A public memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 11, in the Law School's Levinson Auditorium, 127 Wall St. A reception will follow in the Law School dining hall.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

YEPH offers joint degree program for undergrads

In Focus: Urban Resources Initiative

Crown Prince of Bahrain visits Yale

700 new welcome mats ... and counting

Endowment funds grow to $15.2 billion

Moore Foundation grant supports joint SOM/F&ES degree program

Event celebrates the legacy of . . . Robin Winks

Bulldogs' home opener is Employee Day at the Bowl

Program showcases how museum turned itself 'Inside/Out'

Early signs of diabetes exist before symptoms appear, study shows

Study resolves 'conflicting' theories about schizophrenia

Expert on butterfly and ant interactions to visit as Tetelman Fellow

'Francis Conversations' continue with reading by author

Boris Bittker, expert on tax law and adviser to many deans

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes