Rosenblum, Victor G.
Biography
Victor G. Rosenblum was born in New York City on June 2, 1925. He earned both his A.B. degree (1945) and his LL.B. (1948) from Columbia University before receiving his Ph.D in law from the University of California-Berkeley in 1953. After earning his doctorate, Rosenblum began his teaching career at Berkeley as an Assistant Professor of Political Science. In 1957, he left Berkeley to serve as an associate counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Executive and Legislative Reorganization before resuming his teaching career as an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University in 1958. Admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1960, Rosenblum began teaching at Northwestern's School of Law in 1962 before being promoted to Professor of Law and Political Science in 1963. In 1968, however, he left Northwestern to serve a brief tenure as President of Reed College in Oregon.
In 1970, Rosenblum rejoined the Northwestern faculty and served as Director of the Law School's Graduate Studies Program from 1979-1992. In 1988, he became the Nathaniel L. Nathanson Professor of Law and continued to hold the position until becoming emeritus in 2002. During his career of nearly 50 years, Rosenblum became a nationally recognized scholar in both administrative and constitutional law. He helped to found Northwestern's Program on Law and Social Sciences and was instrumental in securing its funding from the Russell Sage Foundation and the National Science Foundation. In addition to his activity at Northwestern, Rosenblum also served as a visiting professor at the University of Louvain in Belgium, Peoples' University in China, and various U.S. law schools.
Rosenblum was an active member of numerous professional associations. He held several positions at the American Bar Association including Editor of the Administrative Law Review (1958-1962) and Chairman of the Administrative Law Section (1977-1978). He served as President of the Association of American Law Schools (1987) and sat on the boards of the American Judicature Society and the Law School Admissions Council. In addition, Rosenblum participated on many governmental advisory committees and research projects. The published results of these projects include Citizen-Initiated Complaints: An Introductory Study of Federal Agency Procedures and Practices (1974), Uses of Social Science in Judicial Decision Making (1974), and The Administrative Law Judge in the Administrative Process (1975). Rosenblum's published books include Law as a Political Instrument (1955), Bankruptcy: Problems, Process, Reform (1971), and Constitutional Law: Political Roles of the Supreme Court (1973). In addition, he authored dozens of journal articles and book reviews throughout his career.
Rosenblum was also extremely active in various civil rights causes. An unwavering supporter of the Pro-Life movement, he served as Vice Chairman (1970-1989) and Chairman (1989-1990) of Americans United for Life and argued the anti-abortion side of the Hyde Amendment before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981. In addition, Rosenblum was an Executive Committee Member of the Anti-Defamation League's Chicago-Midwest Region (1971-1995).
Rosenblum married Louise Rann on February 21, 1946. The couple had eight children: Susan, Ellen, Laura, Keith, Jonathan, Peter, Warren, and Joshua. Rosenblum died of congestive heart failure in Evanston Hospital on March 13, 2006 at age 80.