John G. Simon, Augustus E. Lines Professor of Law Emeritus, 1962-2003, and Professorial Lecturer, 2003-2015

John G. Simon

REFERENCES:

Faculty biography, John G. Simon.

View the impact of The Ethical Investor on the Yale endowment investment policy.

Yale Law School Mourns the Loss of Professor Emeritus John G. Simon, Yale Law School News (Feb. 15, 2022)

John G. Simon (1928-2022) graduated from the Law School in 1953 and was an assistant to the General Counsel in the Office of the Secretary of the Army from 1953-58. He was Deputy Dean of the Law School from 1985-90 and Acting Dean in 1991.

John Simon launched the academic study of nonprofit organizations. Furthering this research interest, he founded the internationally prominent Yale Program on Nonprofit Organizations, an interdisciplinary research center at the University. His interest in nonprofits was sustained on a number of dimensions, including establishing the Nonprofit Legal Clinic at the Law School, and serving on several foundation boards.

In addition, Simon’s book, The Ethical Investor (with Charles W. Powers & Jon P. Gunnemann), published in 1972, was the first book to consider in a systematic way social responsibility in investing. It quickly became highly influential in institutional investing circles, initiating what has now become the standard approach to investment policy of many university endowments, including Yale’s, and other non-profit institutions. 

At the Law School, a research fund was established in his honor in 2007.