In Memoriam: Lynn Andrea Stout, 1957-2018

Lynn Stout, Distinguished Professor of Corporate and Business Law at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York, died on April 16 at a hospice facility in Ithaca. She was 60 years old and had suffered from cancer.

Professor Stout joined the faculty at Cornell Law School in 2012. Previously, she served on the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. Earlier, she taught at Harvard University, New York University, Georgetown University, and George Washington University.

Robert Hockett, the Edward Cornell Professor of Law at the university, stated that “Lynn was easily one of the most energetic, brilliant, creative and courageous scholars of her generation. Even up to the last several weeks, she was still producing first-rate and cutting-edge work.” Just before her death, Professor Stout completed work on two book manuscripts.

Professor Stout’s most recently published book is The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations and the Public (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2012). An earlier book was Cultivating Conscience: How Good Laws Make Good People (Princeton University Press, 2010).

Professor Stout was a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University. She held a master of public affairs degree from Princeton and a juris doctorate from Yale Law School.