Professor Emeritus John J. “Jack” Meehan Dies at 100

The Brooklyn Law School community mourns the death of Professor Emeritus John J. “Jack” Meehan, a beloved teacher and colleague at the Law School for 50 years, until his retirement in 1993. He died on October 7, 2024, in Huntington, Long Island, at age 100.   

Meehan, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, joined Brooklyn Law School after his service in the U.S. Army during World War II, for which he received the World War II Victory medal, Good Conduct medal, and European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign medal. He was a noted scholar of real property law, and taught generations of Brooklyn Law students, as well as being a long-serving member and chair of the Law School’s Admissions Committee.  To celebrate Meehan’s 50 years of extraordinary teaching and service to Brooklyn Law School, a scholarship  was established in his name by Nancy Munson '65 and other colleagues and friends to encourage and support students who excelled in the field of property law. 

Before and after retirement, Meehan was a lover of world travel, poetry, and writing.  

Faculty colleagues remember Meehan fondly and well. “Jack was a quiet, kind force who was dedicated to the Law School’s best interests for many, many years. He was gracious to us when we were newbies,” said Professor and former Dean of Clinical and Experiential Education Stacy Caplow. “He was a class act,” said Michael Simmons and Michael Gerber Professor of Law Michael Gerber. 

Professor Samuel Murumba recalled the late professor contributing to the warm reception he received from colleagues when he joined Brooklyn Law in 1990. “Jack Meehan was one of the kindest people I met at BLS in 1990. We later served together on the BLS Admissions Committee (which Jack chaired) along with [Professors] Dick Farrell, Joe Crea, and John Ronayne (the latter two, like Jack, were WWII Veterans). Jack had a kindness and generosity of spirit… and an inimitable sense of humor, which made our weekly Admissions Committee meetings so much more fun. Jack and Joe and Dick and John are all no longer with us, but they left indelible lifetime memories in my heart.”  

Former students also shared fond recollections. In a tribute in Meehan’s obituary, alumnus John Radonic ’74 recalled how Meehan had interviewed Radonic when he had applied to Brooklyn Law School. “In going over my background, it came up that I was a Vietnam veteran, and that Jack was a WWII veteran,” Radonic said. “My LSAT scores were on the low side. Jack said that the admissions committee would ask me to retake the exam, but that he was going to recommend me, notwithstanding my low LSAT score. I came up only slightly in my next LSAT, and I have always felt certain that it was because of Jack's recommendation that I was granted admission to begin classes the following September.”  

Radonic went on to study with Meehan, and crossed paths with him after graduation, when Radonic was working as an editor in the forms department of West Publishing Co. where Meehan wrote the commentaries for West’s McKinney’s real property practice forms. “When Jack visited the office…,” said Radonic, “he was always smartly dressed in a tweed sport coat, with shirt and tie, and always his tweed fedora hat with a feather in it. Jack never stopped being of the old school. I loved Jack's quiet, low-key demeanor, but yet with a sense of humor. He was a lovely man.”