Dedication: Edmund O. Belsheim.

During his remarkable career as a law professor, Edmund O. Belsheim taught nearly every basic course in the curriculum. He was a common law lawyer in the Holmes tradition and more. Though educated when the common law dominated the curriculum, Ed practiced and taught through the New Deal, the civil rights movement, the Great Society, the Reagan years, and nearly to the end of the 20th Century. Along the way he brought the growing wisdom of age to his teaching about law and a legal system that little resembled what he had studied as a youth. He also brought the timeless virtues of compassion, friendship, and an expectation of excellence.

Environmental law is one of the few legal subjects of which Ed Belsheim knew little. Environmental law, like this law review, was born about the time Ed Belsheim retired from the University of Nebraska Over the next quarter century, both environmental law and Ed Belsheim would play central roles in lifting this law school from threatened survival to national prominence and leadership.

That Ed knew little of the subject matter of environmental law did not limit his understanding of its importance. While some "old timers" grumbled that environmental law was fringe area stuff and a passing fad, Ed Belsheim never questioned this law school's commitment of resources and reputation to a subject area that most law schools would discover a decade or two later. He would not have claimed any credit for the success of Environmental Law or of our law school's program in natural resources and environmental law, but then he was not one to claim credit for much of anything. Teaching, not taking credit, was Ed's mission as a law professor.

While the University of Nebraska records will show that Ed Belsheim retired in 1972, the records of this law school, and more importantly the lives of thousands of our graduates, testify to the fact that Ed never retired from his life as a teacher. He taught through the spring semester of 1994. He was 89 years old. He died a few months later. Ed wouldn't have had it any other way.

I take great pleasure in dedicating the 25th anniversary volume of Environmental Law to the memory of Professor Edmund O. Belsheim. Though he never published within the covers of the first 24 volumes, his commitment to excellence has been an inspiration to the generation of students who have made this journal a leader in what has become a crowded field. If he were still with us, Ed would no doubt remind the students of Environmental Law, gently and with a bit of wry humor, that there is much work to be done. After all, it is only a quarter of a century until our fiftieth anniversary.

EDMUND O. BELSHEIM: TEACHER

Ed Belsheim retired from our faculty last spring at the age of eighty-nine. He came to us in 1972 after reaching the mandatory retirement age at the University of Nebraska. While many of his contemporaries played bingo in retirement villages, Ed continued to do the one thing he truly loved: teaching law.

He was a wonderful teacher. Ed had an encyclopedic knowledge of his subject which he imparted to his students with warmth and humor. They loved him. He often won the coveted Leo Levenson Award for excellent teaching and was always among the top vote getters.

As much as Ed loved the class room, he may have enjoyed office conferences with students even more. It seemed as if he was always in his office with a student. Often there would be several students waiting to be next to talk with him. Ed knew as much about life as he did about law. In his grandfatherly way he would bolster the confidence of students who were finding law study difficult or advise and console those who were experiencing problems in their personal lives. Students could talk to Ed. They knew he cared and would be helpful and not judgmental. Their love for him showed in a constant outpouring of individual and group tributes. On his birthday there would be balloons and cakes and singing telegrams. Some student was always bringing by some cookies or flowers.

Ed's warm and gentle spirit carried over to his relations with colleagues. His office was next to mine for seventeen years. When I was discouraged I would often drop by for a chat. He loved to tell stories of his days at Nebraska. Ed liked to talk about what we could do to help our students become successful lawyers. He believed that what we did for a living was worth doing. To him teaching was not only fun, it was a high calling. I always left his office feeling better about myself and about the law school in general.

A few years ago we set out to endow a chair in Ed's name that would honor him and the qualities he brought to our law school. It would honor teaching because teaching was what he loved and did so well. The naysayers opined that we would never raise the necessary funds. How wrong they were. Alumni and friends came forth with the money so quickly that we were able to announce and fill the chair in time for Ed's retirement celebration. The chair is a lasting tribute to what Ed meant to this school.

When Ed joined our faculty we were a developing law school with a very young faculty. He gave us instant credibility. When he died in October he left us with wonderful memories and a law school whose primary emphasis is teaching excellence. Ed set the standard. We will carry on.

James L. Huffman, Dean and Professor of Law, Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College; J.D. 1972, University of Chicago; M.A. 1969, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; B.S. 1967, Montana State University. Douglas K. Newell, Edmund O. Belsheim Professor of Law, Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College.