Richard Posner 1939 – 2026

Biography

Richard Allen Posner was an American legal scholar and federal judge, widely regarded as the most influential legal scholar of the twentieth century. Born in New York City on January 11, 1939, he graduated from Yale in 1959 and Harvard Law School in 1962, then joined the University of Chicago Law School faculty in 1969. His 1973 book, Economic Analysis of Law, founded the field of law and economics. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1981, he served 36 years on the bench, including seven as chief judge, and wrote some 3,300 opinions before retiring in 2017. A citation study in 2000 ranked him the most-cited legal scholar of the twentieth century. Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2018, he died in Chicago on November 10, 2026, aged 87, survived by his wife Charlene, two sons and four grandchildren.