Traditions
Tim Heinsz Bow Tie Day
Early in each school year, the Tim Heinsz Bow Tie Day is held at MU School of Law and elsewhere.
For those who do not know, here is why we celebrate: First, who is Tim Heinsz? Tim Heinsz was the former Dean and Earl F. Nelson Professor of Law at the School of Law. He first joined the law faculty in 1979 as a visiting professor and became a full time faculty member in 1981. He served as Dean from 1988 through 2002. He was an expert in the field of Labor Law, and was a dear friend and colleague. Unfortunately, Tim died unexpectedly while jogging on the MKT Trail in July, 2004.
Second, why "Bow Tie Day?" Tim almost always wore a bow tie. He started wearing them in honor of lawyer Archibald Cox. Cox was the United States' Solicitor General under President John Kennedy and is well-known publicly as the prosecutor of those charged with crimes arising out of the Watergate break-in during Richard Nixon's Presidency. Cox, too, wore a bow tie and Tim admired the courage, decency, and professional excellence that Cox showed during the Watergate era. As it turns out, Archibald Cox died a little over a month before Tim.
Bow Tie Day is not unique to the law school. On Tim Heinsz Bow Tie Day, many of Tim's other colleagues in other schools and colleges on this campus, MU administrators, former colleagues now teaching at other law schools, Tim's former students, and lawyers and judges around the country and the world will also participate. It is simply a small way to fondly remember a good father, a good husband, a good scholar, a good teacher, a good dean, but mostly a good friend.
