Riverside Church Hosts Memorial Service for Derrick Bell

The memorial service for the late Derrick Bell, prominent intellectual, acclaimed civil rights attorney and legal and social activist,  will take place at The Riverside Church on Thursday, November 3, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Church’s Nave, 91 Claremont Ave. (between 120^th & 122^nd Street), Morningside Heights.

After a valiant battle with cancer, Derrick Bell died on October 5, 2011.  Professor Bell joined the faculty of New York University School of Law in 1992.  His introductory and advanced constitutional law courses were taught in a non-traditional and non-Socratic style that he called “participatory learning.”

In 1995, in honor of Professor Bell’s 65th birthday, Janet Dewart Bell established the Derrick Bell Lecture on Race in American Society at New York University School of Law. The Bell Lecture has the distinction of being one of the nation’s leading forums on race and the law.

The Rev. Stephen H. Phelps, Interim Senior Minister for the Riverside Church, will be joined by The Rev. Dr. Paul Smith to lead the service. The Tribute will be delivered by Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree, a former Derrick Bell student. The Eulogy will be delivered by John Sexton, President of New York University, another of Professor Bell’s former Harvard students.

Remembrances and tributes will be provided by Gloria Steinem and internationally acclaimed soprano Jessye Norman.

Several Bell Fellows and teaching assistants will give brief remembrances and be representative of the thousands of students Professor Bell taught in his more than 40-year teaching career.

To honor Professor Bell’s memory and to continue his quest for social justice, the family asks that contributions be made to:

Derrick Bell Lecture Fund (PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU DESIGNATE THE FUND) New York University School of Law Office of Development and Alumni Relations D’Agostino Hall 110 West 3rd Street, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10012

Additional information may be found at: http://professorderrickbell.com/