A Conversation with Elias Clark

Abstract

Elias Clark (1921–2011), a member of both the Yale Law School and Yale University communities, served on the faculty of Yale Law School from 1949 to 2004, and as Master of Silliman College from 1962 to 1981. “Eli” Clark earned a B.A. from Yale College in 1943, an LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1947, and a Master of Arts degree from Yale University in 1958. From 1944 to 1945, he flew C-47s as a pilot in the Army Air Corps. As a faculty member of Yale Law School, he specialized in property, family law, and estate taxation. He was named a Professor of Law in 1958 and the Lafayette S. Foster Professor of Law in 1969. In 1991, he was named the Lafayette S. Foster Professor Emeritus and Myres S. McDougal Professorial Lecturer in Law. He retired from Yale Law School in 2004 after more than fifty-five years of service.