Law Professor Keith W. Blinn Is Dead at 72

Keith W. Blinn, a law professor and former general counsel and senior vice president of the Continental Oil Co., died Tuesday of coronary and vascular disease after open-heart surgery at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla. He was 72.

Blinn, who was a law professor at the University of California at Irvine at the time of his death, divided his time between Irvine and Coronado, where he was on the board of directors of the Coronado Shores Assn.

Born in Hutchinson, Kan., Blinn attended University of Kansas and Washington and Lee University. He was a graduate of the Marquette University Law School and received a doctorate from Yale Law School.

He began working for Continental Oil in New York and Stamford, Conn., in the 1950s and later became a director of the company.

In the mid-1970’s, he retired from Continental and moved to Houston, where he taught law at the University of Houston. He also taught at the Universities of Washington, North Dakota, Idaho and at the California Western School of Law in San Diego. He had homes in Coronado and Irvine.

In his career, Blinn was also counsel to the National Labor Relations Board and Tennessee Valley Authority, and was a consultant to the World Bank as well as other national and international business organizations.

He was also a published author whose most recent book, “Legal and Ethical Concepts in Engineering,” was used as a textbook in engineering and law schools.

Blinn is survived by his wife, Ellen; two sons who are lawyers, John of Ft. Worth, Tex. and David of Orange Count; a sister, Virginia Miller of Hutchinson, Kan., and four grandchildren.