Person Page - 1174

MOORESVILLE -- M. James Bezanson, Jr., of Mooresville, died November 9, 2002 at his home on Lake Norman.

Born May 27, 1940 in Wilmington, Delaware, Jim was the son of Malcolm J. and Mary Burns Bezanson. He married his high school sweetheart, the former Patricia Twasko of Wilmington, on November 11, 1961. Jim's greatest joy came from being a loving husband, a devoted father to two children and a special "Pop Pop" to his four grandchildren. He was a caring and loyal man who leaves behind a host of friends. Jim was a graduate of Salesianum School in Wilmington, Delaware, a Certified Life Underwriter and a Certified Professional Manufacturers Representative. He was a proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps Reserves. During his recent illness, his spirits were often buoyed by the sounds of the Marine Corps Band playing the famous marches of John Phillip Sousa. He was a member of St. Therese Catholic Church in Mooresville. A past president of the Delaware Jaycees and of the Delaware Muscular Dystrophy Association, Jim also served on the board of directors of the North American Industrial Represenentatives Association. He was President of M. James Bezanson and Associates, a manufacturers' representative corporation.This agency has been the recipient of many awards and recognitions for outstanding achievements. He formerly owned an insurance agency in Delaware.

Jim's hobbies were many. He was described as a reader of Olympic caliber, devouring books as fast as he could acquire them. He also took great pleasure in trying new golf courses, although he never managed to find the perfect driver.

Of all his interests, though, Jim was most at home on the water and in the air. An avid fisherman and boater, he often entertained friends and family at his homes on Lake Norman and at Surfside Beach. In recent years, he discovered the joy of diving in the Bahamas, and he became a licensed PADI diver. He also had a longtime love of flying and was a licensed pilot, flight instructor, and past owner of Goose Creek Aviation in Indian Trail, NC, at that time the busiest flight school in the Charlotte area.

Jim is survived by his wife, Patricia Twasko Bezanson; a son and daughter-in-law, Jeffrey James and Jennifer Bezanson of Mooresville, NC; a daughter, Shelly Bezanson Carrigg of Columbia, SC; four grandchildren, Sydney and Zoey Bezanson of Mooresville and Ashley and Jack Carrigg of Columbia; a sister and brother-in-law, Leigh Bezanson Hill and Edward V. Hill, Jr. of Lewes, Delaware; a niece, Kirsten Hill Anderson of Hockessin, Delaware and a nephew, Christopher Hill of New York City. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, November 13, 2002 at St. Therese Catholic Church. Entombment will follow at Iredell Memorial Mausoleum. The family will receive friends Tuesday, November 12, 2002, from 7:00-8:30 p.m. at Cavin-Cook Funeral Home.¹

Randall P. "Randy" Bezanson, the dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law from 1988 to 1994, died on Saturday, Jan. 25, in San Antonio, Texas, following a long illness. He was 67.

Bezanson is credited with enhancing the national reputation of the law school and laying the groundwork to secure its financial future. Among his numerous accomplishments, he rejuvenated the first-year curriculum with the introduction of small, writing-intensive classes.

"Randy's deanship brought about monumental changes," said Dean Nora Demleitner. "While his death is to be mourned, his legacy will live on through each of us and our law school."

Bezanson received his B.S. and B.A. from Northwestern University and his J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law. After clerkships on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and U.S. Supreme Court, he returned to the University of Iowa to teach, where he established himself as one the nation's leading experts on the First Amendment, libel law and mass communications law.

In 1979, Bezanson became the University of Iowa's vice president for finance and university services. He served in that post until 1984, directing one of the then largest budgets in state government and overseeing three successful capital improvement projects, including the construction of Iowa's Boyd Law Building.

He left Iowa in 1988 to become dean of W&L Law. During Bezanson's tenure at W&L, the University planned and constructed a major addition to Lewis Hall. This addition included more space for clinical programs, the library reading room, faculty offices, and the law school's archives, to which U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. '27, '31L donated his personal and professional papers.

At W&L, Bezanson emphasized what he called "the role of writing as the principal medium of learning" in making curricular changes. Even in expanding clinical programs, he pointed to W&L's "taught clinics" with their "focus on the skills of analytical writing and oral expression."

David Millon, J.B. Stombock Professor of Law at W&L, was just beginning his teaching career when Bezanson came to Lexington.

"More than any single individual, Randy made the law school what it is today. He was a visionary leader who, together with President John Wilson, articulated and built the 'liberal arts' model of legal education that emphasizes small classes, close student-faculty interaction, intensive writing instruction, and interdisciplinary inquiry," said Millon. "In the decades since Randy's deanship, many law schools have tried to emulate our model, but it was Randy who set us on our on-going course of leadership in curricular innovation."

Bezanson returned to the University of Iowa in 1994 after the completion of his W&L deanship. In 1998, he became the Charles E. Floete Distinguished Professor of Law, and in 2006 he became the inaugural holder of the David H. Vernon professorship. An extraordinary teacher, he was recognized in 2009 with the President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence, the University of Iowa's highest teaching honor.

Bezanson's scholarship spanned the fields of administrative law, constitutional law, the First Amendment, defamation and privacy law, law and medicine, and the history of freedom of the press. The author of dozens of articles, Bezanson also wrote, co-wrote or edited eight books, two monographs and six book chapters. His book with co-authors Gilbert Cranberg and John Soloski, "Libel Law and the Press: Myth and Reality," received the National Distinguished Service Award for Research in Journalism in 1988 from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Bezanson was preceded in death by his wife, Elaine Croyle Bezanson.

He is survived by their two children, Melissa Bezanson Shultz and Peter Bezanson, and five grandchildren.

A celebration of Bezanson's life will be held on Saturday, Feb. 15, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Levitt Center for University Advancement at the University of Iowa. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, memorials be directed to the Randall Bezanson Memorial Fund at the University of Iowa Foundation, Iowa City, IA, 52242.

Randall Bezanson is the Charles E. Floete Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Iowa College of Law, prior to which he served as Professor and Dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law. Bezanson is a well-known authority on speech and press issues, and has written widely on libel economics and reform. He received a B.A. in business administration from Northwestern University in 1968 and his JD from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1971, graduating summa cum laude and serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Iowa Law Review. From 1971 to 1972 he clerked for Judge Roger Robb on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; from 1972 to 1973 he served as clerk at the US Supreme Court for Justice Harry Blackmun. Bezanson began his teaching career the following year, joining the faculty at the Iowa College of Law. While at Iowa he has also served as the University's General Counsel and, from 1979 to 1984, as the University's Vice President for Finance and University Services. In addition to his work on libel, Bezanson has written on subjects including administrative law, law and medicine, equality, libel, freedom of expression and freedom of the press. In 1987, he, his Iowa colleagues Gil Cranberg and John Soloski published Libel Law and the Press: Myth and Reality -- known in law and journalism circles as "The Iowa Libel Research Project" -- which received the national research award from Sigma Delta Chi. Currently, he Cranberg and Soloski are completing a 3-year research study on news, editorial judgment and editorial freedom. Their work, "The Business of News in the Publicly Traded Newspaper Company," will be published by the Open Society Institute of New York later this year.³

Elaine Croyle Bezanson, age 66, passed away on June 21, 2013 with a view of the lake and a nesting loon in her summer cabin near Clam Lake, Wisconsin. Elaine was born on December 31, 1946 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to David Croyle and Grace Zezula Croyle. After meeting when they were young, Elaine married her high school sweetheart, Randall Bezanson in 1968 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They were happily married for 46 years and are the proud parents of two children and adoring grandparents to five grandchildren. Together with Randy, Elaine lived most of her life in Iowa City, Iowa, but she also lived in Lexington, Virginia, Alexandria, Virginia and Clam Lake, Wisconsin.

Elaine grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where she graduated from Washington High School in 1964. After high school, she attended Bradley University and then The University of Iowa where she received a Bachelor's degree, majoring in French and Secondary Education and was a member of the Chi Omega sorority. Following college, Elaine worked for Iowa City West High School as a French teacher until moving to Washington, D.C. where she worked as an aide at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. After her own children were in school fulltime, Elaine refocused her career to combine her passion for teaching and literacy: she opened a business, Undercover Children's Books, with her friend Ann Parks, taught French at the elementary school level, worked as a children's librarian and, often disguised as Amelia Bedelia, founded (and directed) the Family Literacy Program at the Rockbridge Regional Library in Lexington, Virginia.

In addition to being a life-time educator, Elaine was a prolific and talented writer. She published short stories and essays on topics as varied as the logging industry in Wisconsin, nerve pain, and the life of Margaret Wise-Brown. She also published two books-a book of children's activities for low-literate parents entitled First Teacher and a book of activities for grandparents to do with the their grandchildren (co-authored with Kathryn Wallace) entitled Celebrate! Gifts of Time with Grandma. Elaine received numerous awards for her writing and as a sign of her unique talents was the first patient to have a story published in a leading academic medical journal Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.

In her spare time, Elaine was an active member of many clubs and associations and was committed to volunteerism. She was in PEO Chapter E, the Johnson County League of Women Voters, the 19th Century Club, and numerous book clubs and writing groups in Iowa City and Lexington, Virginia. Among other places, Elaine volunteered at the University of Iowa Hospitals and various libraries.

Elaine is survived by her spouse Randall Bezanson, her two children, Peter Bezanson and Melissa Shultz, her soon-to-be daughter-in-law Patti Tindall Bezanson, her son-in-law Zachary Taylor Shultz, and her five cherished grandchildren Noah, Zoe, Bella, Tennyson and Austen. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Judy Ruth, and numerous nieces and nephews. Elaine was preceded in death by her mother and father, David and Grace Croyle, her sisters, Barbara Puls and Betty Lodge, and her brothers-in-law, Bill Puls and Ed Lodge.

Elaine will be remembered by those who loved her for her quick wit, thoughtful writing, adoration for her role as a grandmother and her love for Iowa Hawkeye sports. A celebration of Elaine's beautiful life (with cocktails, music and shared memories) will be held from 4 to 6 pm on August 4, 2013 in Iowa City, Iowa. Details regarding the celebration will be posted on her memorial website: http://memorialwebsites.legacy.com/ebezanson.²