In Memoriam: Herma Hill Kay, 1934-2017

Herma Hill Kay, who served on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law for 57 years, died at her home in San Francisco on June 10. She was 82 years old.

A native of South Carolina, Kay was a graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas and the University of Chicago School of Law. After clerking for Justice Roger Traynor of the California Supreme Court, Kay joined the faculty of Berkeley law school in 1960. She was only the second woman to serve on the law school’s faculty. In 1992, Professor Kay became the first woman to serve as dean of the law school. She served in that role for eight years.

Professor Kay was the co-author of the case book Sex-Based Discrimination (West Academic Publishing, 2011), now in its seventh edition. In 2015, Professor Kay received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of American Law Schools. Justice Ginsburg presented the award.