May 8, 1998

Law professors invested with professorships

Henry Gabriel and Dennis Rousseau, professors of law, received one of the highest honors bestowed upon professors. Both were invested with endowed professorships in a formal ceremony on April 24 at Loyola. Gabriel was named the De Van Daggett Endowed Professor of Law and Rousseau the Fanny Edith Winn Endowed Professor of Law.

Henry Deeb Gabriel earned his bachelor of arts in 1977 from York University in Canada, his juris doctor in 1980 from Gonzaga University, and his LL.M. in 1981 from the University of Pennsylvania. He spent two years on the faculty of Columbia University Law School before joining the Loyola faculty in 1984. A prolific author, he has written four books and over 30 law review articles. He has been a visiting professor at Tulane University, McGeorge School of Law and Monash University in Australia, and lead counsel in over 50 federal appeals in the United States Supreme Court and the United States Courts of Appeal. In 1992, he served as the Professor in Residence at the U. S. Justice Department and was appointed to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform States Laws. His areas of expertise are domestic and international commercial law, contract theory, contracts, and federal appellate advocacy.

The professorship is named after De Van Daggett who died in 1991. A 1938 graduate of Yale University’s School of Law, Daggett was an attorney for the Louisiana Legislature, and served for many years as advisor to the Louisiana Senate and House of Representatives. During his tenure in the Legislative Council, he was very helpful to Loyola, particularly in getting state aid for private education. The professorship was made possible through a gift from Michael X. St. Martin, a 1967 graduate of the School of Law and a member of the Loyola Board of Trustees.

Dennis Leon Rousseau received both his bachelor of arts, summa cum laude, and his J.D., second in his class, from Loyola in 1957. He went on to earn an LL.M. from Harvard in 1958. Since 1959, he has taught in the School of Law, with a brief hiatus from 1970-75 when he served as executive assistant to the president of the United States. He has taught in the areas of accounting, agency, business organizations, business planning, corporations, and jurisprudence. He also has served as attorney for the Louisiana Legislature while in session, and as drafting and research consultant to members of legislative committees through the Louisiana Legislative Council. His legal memberships include the Committee on Law Reform of the Louisiana State Bar Association, and the Louisiana Law Institute’s Committee to Study Comparative Negligence.

The professorship was named after Fanny Edith Winn who grew up in Lake Arthur, La., and spent almost her entire life there. Winn attended Sophie Newcomb College where she received a bachelor of arts in English in 1927. She established the Fanny Edith Winn Educational Trust. Just before she died in 1988, an oil well was drilled on Winn’s farm. The revenue from the well and the farm are used to fund the charitable enterprises of her trust.

–Maria Magolske, Coordinator of Stewardship