Thursday, April 23, 2009
Mon, 26 Nov 2007
Roger C. Bern, Professor of Law at Liberty University School of Law, passed away on Tuesday, November 20, 2007, at the age of 66. Professor Bern exhibited the joy of the Lord in his personal and professional life. He was committed to reestablishing Christian legal education. To him, we owe much. Our prayers are with Roger’s wife, Susie, their two daughters, Susan and Stacy, and their families.
Professor Bern joined Liberty’s inaugural law faculty in the summer of 2003 to help lay the groundwork for enrollment of the first class in the fall of 2004. He began his teaching career in 1968, accumulating almost 40 years of service in multiple areas of legal education, including Administrative Law, Antitrust and Trade Regulation, Contracts, Estates and Trusts, Federal Courts, Torts, Legal Process, and Remedies.
Professor Bern developed a biblical model for analyzing uses of law and public policy. His students have had the privilege of learning not only the foundations of our legal system, but how to demonstrate Christian character in the courtroom. During his teaching tenure he served as assistant, associate, and professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law; and as professor of law at O. W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University; Regent University School of Law; and Thomas Goode Jones School of Law at Faulkner University. In addition to contracts and other core-curriculum subjects, Professor Bern taught seminars on the Robinson-Patman Act, private antitrust enforcement, and private remedies. Since 1989, he served as Resource Professor for the University of the Nations in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
While at law school Professor Bern was editor-in-chief of the UMKC Law Review, was recipient of the UMKC Law Foundation Gold Award, and member of the Bench and Robe Society for academic achievement. In his undergraduate program he was elected to the Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honorary and was a member of the Torch and Scroll academic achievement honorary. Prior to embarking on his legal career he served as a Federal Judicial Law Clerk. During a two-year leave from law teaching he served as Assistant Attorney General and Chief Counsel of the Missouri Antitrust Division. Between two of his teaching positions he also engaged in private practice for four years with an emphasis on estate planning. Professor Bern’s experience as a legal practitioner also includes serving as a consultant on antitrust and contracts matters and as a commercial arbitrator and member of the American Arbitration Association. He was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1966, the Kansas Bar in 1998, two United States Courts of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Visiting hours will be Monday, November 26 from 7:00 to 8:30 P.M. at Tharp Funeral Home located at 220 Breezewood Drive, Lynchburg, Virginia. A memorial service will be held in Pate Chapel at Thomas Road Baptist Church at 1 P.M. on Tuesday, November 27, 2007.