William C. Warren; Longtime Dean of Columbia Law School

William Clements Warren, 91, a former dean of Columbia University Law School who helped transform the institution into a modern school. Warren is credited with improving the school’s scholarship offerings and building a more diversified student body during his tenure as dean from 1952 to 1970. He also led the planning efforts for the school’s main building. “He rebuilt the school physically and educationally, and we often referred to him as the first modern dean, someone who understood his role in a very comprehensive way including fund-raising,” said David Leebron, current dean of the law school. Warren, a specialist in tax law, was born in Paris, Texas. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1935 before practicing law in New York City. Warren served in the Army during World War II and was an editor of a treatise on lend-lease for the War Department, now called the Defense Department. He received the U.S. Legion of Merit and Italy’s Order of the Crown for that work. He was named a professor at Columbia in 1945 and was a partner in the law firm of Roberts & Holland. On Monday in Ridgewood, N.J.