It is with incredible sadness that I am announcing the passing of our dear DR colleague Elayne Greenberg on Friday.  Here is the letter that went out to St John’s faculty yesterday:

Colleagues,

I am sad to share the news that our colleague Elayne Greenberg passed away last night.

Elayne’s son, Carey Alexander (who graduated from the Law School in 2012) let me know about Elayne’s passing tonight. Here is what Carey told me:

With great sadness, I write to let you know that my mother passed away last night. Her partner, Robert, and I were both with her and it was as peaceful a passing as we could have wanted.

I can’t thank you enough for supporting her and her work over the years. She was always proud to be a member of the St. John’s community. Her work and her students meant the world to her and were an enduring source of strength, purpose, and joy. She was driven by her commitment to her students and they inspired her to go on for as long as she did.

Thank you also for sharing my contact information with her colleagues. I read her each of the many notes that she received and she was touched by the outpouring of support.

Elayne joined the Law School community in 2007 as the Director of the Carey Center and became a Professor of Legal Practice in 2010. She was gifted community builder, a cheerful proselytizer for dispute resolution, and an irrepressibly positive force around the Law School. She also cared deeply about her students and her colleagues.

Due to the short time between now and Passover, Robert and Carey are not planning to sit shiva. And, consistent with Elayne’s wishes, they don’t plan to otherwise have a service. (Elayne did like to be in control; and I’m sure she would be happy to know that Robert and Carey are following her instructions 😉  But, Elayne didn’t give us any such instructions, and Carey told me that he and Robert would welcome it if the Law School wanted to do something to remember Elayne. So we will find an appropriate way to gather to memorialize Elayne here at the Law School in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, expressions of sympathy may be sent to Carey Alexander at calexander@scott-scott.com.

May Elayne rest in peace and may her memory be for a blessing.

Mike

I will keep all apprised as I learn more.  Such a loss to our community on both a personal and professional level.  She was kind and funny, warm and welcoming–and wrote beautifully on plea bargaining, criminal law, diversity, and all things dispute resolution-related.  I will miss her.