Lasting Memories

Howard Williams
1916-April 14, 2010
Stanford, California

Howard Williams, 94, a Stanford Law School professor and authority on oil and gas law, died April 14, 2010, at his home in Palo Alto.

He was one of the nation's leading experts on the law of oil, gas and other natural resource exploration, ownership, use, licensing, and regulation. A member of the Stanford faculty for more than 40 years, he was the first holder of both the Robert E. Paradise Professorship of Natural Resources Law and the Stella W. and Ira S. Lillick Professorship in Law.

He wrote more than 30 articles and nine books in the areas of gas and oil law, property, trusts, wills, and estates; and collaborated with the late Stanford Law professor Charles Meyers to produce a seminal textbook "Cases on Oil and Gas Law," an eight-volume treatise "Oil and Gas Law," and multiple editions of the "Manual of Oil and Gas Terms." Born in Evansville, Ind., he graduated from Washington University, earning membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He studied law at Columbia University, where he was a member of the law review and a Kent Scholar. He joined the Army in 1940 as a private and rose to the rank of major by the time he left the service six years later. He saw active duty in Europe during World War II, serving with the U.S. Army Field Artillery.

From 1946 to 1951, he taught at the University of Texas Law School, serving for a time as assistant dean and acting dean. He was named to the Columbia Law School faculty in 1951 and appointed to its Dwight Professorship in 1959. He moved west to join the Stanford Law School faculty in 1963, where he taught until his retirement in 1985. In 1994, he and his colleague Meyers were among three professors who were the first recipients of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation's Clyde O. Martz Teaching Award. The award was in recognition of Cases on Oil and Gas Law and many other teaching and research contributions and accomplishments over the years.

He is survived by his son, Frederick Thompson Williams; one granddaughter; and two great-granddaughters.