Remembering James T. Laney (1927–2026) |

James T. Laney (left) and John Witte, Jr. and Laney (right)

 
CSLR joins the Emory community in remembering and celebrating the life and legacy of James T. Laney. Dr. Laney joined the Emory community in 1969 as Dean of Candler School of Theology and was appointed President in 1977. During his time at Emory, Laney transformed both Candler and Emory into an academic powerhouse, securing the University’s enduring relationship with businessman and philanthropist Robert W. Woodruff and the Woodruff Foundation.

As described in our 40th-anniversary brochure, Laney was pivotal in the creation of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion:

“The Center was the brainchild of then President James T. Laney, who in the 1980s sought to make Emory a beacon of higher purpose in academia. In his view, the university should instill and animate ‘the kind of moral vision that transcends parochial interests and nurtures the sympathy and understanding necessary for moral judgment.’ Universities, in his thinking, should be educating men and women to engage with heart as well as mind in building a more humane and enlightened civil society. His deep conviction, he said, was that ‘the university should be a scene of fertile intellectual conversation, where different disciplines fructify each other. The university also has a moral calling to work toward the larger common good.’ Impelled by that exalted image of the university, he encouraged interdisciplinary teaching and scholarship.”

CSLR Faculty Director John Witte, Jr. worked closely with Laney: “Jim has been such a stalwart friend and mentor of mine since I came to Emory in 1985, and he has been a remarkably generous supporter of the work that my colleagues and I were able to offer in building up the work in law and religion. Emory would not be anything of what it is today — and I, for one, certainly would not have had the career here that I have had — without the great inspiration, example, and encouragement from my great mentor and friend. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime talent from whom we have all benefited enormously.”

For more information, Emory released this tribute to Laney from the Office of the President.