Richard S. “Dick” Wirtz, longtime faculty member and administrator at the University of Tennessee College of Law, has died. A celebration of life will be held Feb. 16.
Professor Wirtz came to UT in 1974. He served as dean of the College of Law from 1992 to 1998. Following his term as dean, Wirtz was a Fulbright Scholar. He continued teaching law at UT until 2010.
According to the UT website, Wirtz was honored for his teaching with the Harold C. Warner Outstanding Teacher Award and the Student Bar Association Outstanding Teacher Award.
Wirtz earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies in 1961 from Amherst College; a master’s in public administration in 1963 from Princeton University; and a law degree (JD) in 1970 from Stanford Law School.
Prior to entering law teaching, he worked with the Peace Corps, clerked for Judge Robert A. Ainsworth Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and practiced law in Seattle, Wash.
He was preceded in death by his spouse, Margaret Ann “Peggy” Hickman Wirtz.