In Remembrance Fr. David Bayne, S.J.

Reflection by Fr. Walter L. Farrell, SJ

Fr. David C. Bayne, SJ, died April 8, 2009 at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, Toledo, Ohio.

I first came in contact with Dave in the mid-1940s when we were both at West Baden College: he as a philosopher and I as a theologian.  I remember him well at that time as a bright and earnest young Jesuit who was nothing if not organized and committed to the work with philosophy at hand.

Dave already had an AB degree from the then University of Detroit before he entered the Society. Along the way in his years of formation he picked up degrees from Loyola, Chicago, and Georgetown Universities.  His final degree was from Yale, a doctorate in Juridical Science (SJD), which was conferred on him in 1949.

Fr. Bayne’s first assignment was to the Law School of the University of Detroit where he began as a teacher but moved in as dean of the Law School in 1958.  All this ended in 1960, when Dave got involved in a struggle with the University Administration over the admission standards.  David moved to St. Louis University and began teaching in its law school.  Soon, however, he made a further move when he accepted a position on the faculty of the University of Iowa’s College of Law, a position he held for the next thirty or more years.

As a professor, Fr. Bayne was well respected by faculty and students alike even though he was also known as a demanding teacher.  A friend of Dave recalls that it was often students to whom he had given the lowest grades that were most grateful to him.  Along with teaching Father often engaged in the practice of law as counsel for plaintiffs in corporate-control and securities litigation.  Worthy of note here was the Rowen v. Le Mars Mutual where his theories on the nature of corporate control were embraced by Iowa’s Supreme Court.  Another side of Dave’s life with law was his writing. He published several books and a number of articles in the areas of natural law, corporate control, securities regulation, and moral theology.  The last of his writings, a book on Insider Trading, will be published posthumously in the near future.                                                                                                                              

One cannot ignore, however, that a shadow fell across the life of this talented and successful man: early on he was an interested and lively part of Jesuit community life, but that all seemed to change with his dismissal as dean of the UD Law School.  One can only see his move to St. Louis and then on to Iowa as symbolic of his distancing himself from the Society.  True, some individuals kept in contact with Dave as did the Society’s leadership, but for whatever reason there seemed to be little reciprocation.  One can only hope that the Memorial Mass celebrated in Sts. Peter and Paul Jesuit Church in Detroit on May 16, 2009, was a clear sign that the Society even to the end continues to reach out to any and all of its companions.                                                                                             

Biographical Information

Fr. Bayne was born January 11, 1918, in Detroit, Michigan.  He entered the Society of Jesus on August 31, 1941 at Milford, Ohio. He was ordained on June 18, 1952 at West Baden College in West Baden Springs, Indiana.  He pronounced final vows in St. Louis, Missouri on August 15, 1961.

Father Bayne taught at the University of Detroit School of Law from 1954-1955 and from 1955-1960 he was the Acting Dean.  After six years at the University of Detroit he left the deanship to devote himself to legal scholarship as a member of the Institute of Social Order, the national Jesuit Social Center in St. Louis, Missouri.  He accepted a professorship in law at St. Louis University from 1960-1963.  From 1963-1966 he was visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Frankfurt, Germany in 1967.  In the fall of 1967 he joined the faculty of the University of Iowa, College of Law and again from 1971-1999.  He is founder and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Corporation Law. 

Father Bayne donated his body to medical research.