From: Dean Erwin Chemerinsky
Date: September 9, 2025
Dear Berkeley Law Community,
It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that I am writing to inform you that our beloved colleague Bob Cooter passed away on Monday, September 8. Bob has been an invaluable member of the Berkeley community for the last half century, having begun teaching in the Department of Economics in 1975 and joining the Berkeley Law faculty in 1980. Bob was truly special and his loss to the Law School and to the Jurisprudence and Social Policy program is profound.
Bob was a great academic, mentor, teacher, and builder of lasting institutions like the American Law and Economics Association. His work on the economics of tort, contracts and property, intellectual property, public law, bargaining, and litigation was foundational. It earned him the fifth Coase Medal from the American Law and Economics Association, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and countless awards. Bob literally taught the world law and economics through his co-authored textbook, which has been translated into many languages.
Bob was a brilliant man of many accomplishments, but perhaps his greatest accomplishment was what a blessing he was to all who knew him. Neither Bob’s kindness, nor his devilish sense of humor will be soon forgotten. Bob was always curious, lively, and telling some wonderful story.
Bob is survived by his wife Blair, his children, John, Elizabeth (“Bo”) and Joe (a Berkeley Law alum), their spouses, Michelle Cooter, Rodrigo Calderon, and Arielle Fleisher, respectively, and grandchildren Nathaniel and Ian Cooter, and Cordelia and Beatrice Flooter. I know I speak for our entire community in expressing condolences to Bob’s family.
Warmly,
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
University of California, Berkeley School of Law
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