Lief Hastings Carter

Lief Hastings Carter, age 82, passed away on Monday, January 2 after a sudden and brief illness. He was born in New York City on October 9, 1940, the son of Robert S. Carter and Cynthia Root Carter. He lived on Long Island until the age of 9, moved to Libertyville, Illinois for two years, and then to Medina, Washington where his family settled and his parents lived until their deaths. He was a graduate of Bellevue High School, class of 1958, Harvard College 1962, and Harvard Law School 1965. He married Nancy Batson of Knoxville, TN in 1962. After he finished law school and worked for a brief time for a DC law firm, he and Nancy joined the Peace Corps and served in Bolivia in 1966-67, where their first son was born. They returned to the US, and Lief enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a PhD in political science. He taught at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, for two years before joining the faculty of the University of Georgia in 1973. He became a full professor and received the Josiah Meigs award for teaching excellence—twice—before he accepted the position of McHugh Distinguished Professor of American Institutions and Leadership at Colorado College in 1995. He married Marilyn Vickers in 1998. He retired from Colorado College as an emeritus professor in 2008. He moved back to Athens, where he lived until his death. Ever the teacher, he particularly enjoyed the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) community, teaching for free without the hassle of grades and meetings, for the last 12 years. He was an author with numerous articles and books, among them "The Limits of Order, Administrative Law and Politics," and the classic "Reason in Law," for which he was planning a 10th edition with two co-authors, to be published in 2023. Early in his career, in 1973, he was honored by the American Political Science Association with the Edward S. Corwin Award for best dissertation of the year in public law. In 2010 at the end of his formal career, he was again honored by the APSA with the Law and Courts Teaching and Mentoring Award.

Lief was a unique personality who enjoyed debating for sport, brainstorming outside-the-box ideas and executing them while others were still absorbing the thought. He focused his energy in encouraging the interests of others, primarily his children and grandchildren, but extending that to any individual who was willing to engage in meaningful conversation and share ideas. He described himself as a realist and a pragmatist, but in meeting health challenges and reversals of fortune, he was always positive and forward-thinking, which made him the best of optimists. He was described by many as a Renaissance man, with interests including music (as a choir member and director as well as a piano performer), politics and civics, gardening, sports, wine, cooking, and cigars. When he lost some capacity, such as his hearing in 2012, which kept him from pursuing one interest, he took up another without a regret for his loss.

He has a loving family, all of whom can tell dozens of stories of his uniqueness and joy in life. Particularly his children remember the silly games, like You Bet Your Belly, a contest designed to make eating leftovers fun, or reading books to earn TV-watching rights, or honing their legal reasoning skills by defending themselves in a court like "family council" when they got into trouble. Lief is survived by his wife Marilyn Vickers, as well as his first wife, Nancy Carter. In addition, he is survived by his sister Delight Carter Willing; his son Stephen Hastings Carter and wife Kelly Miller; his son Robert Benjamin Carter and wife Susan Kwasniak; his daughter Laura Elizabeth Carter; his stepdaughter Laura Vickers Chittick and husband Graham Goodkin; his stepson Nathaniel Vickers Chittick and wife Annie Lauren Chittick; two granddaughters Plummy Jean Carter and Lillian Frances Carter; one stepgranddaughter Emma Goodkin; and five stepgrandsons, Lucas Goodkin and William, Oliver, Miles, and Andrew Chittick.

Lief's advanced directive for health included the usual boilerplate about no heroic measures. But with his legal mind and his singular view of religion, he crafted this paragraph which describes him thoroughly, and while these actions were not necessary, it tells us his view of a life well lived.

"(If in a condition of cognitive impairment such that I no longer enjoy such routinely pleasurable activities as reading, watching movies, or conversing with others), I request I receive pain medications and/or sleep aid medications that will render me permanently unconscious and hasten my death. It is my profound deep religious belief that any member of my family and any member of the health care professions who honors my wish expressed here by providing me with such medications, or introducing them into my body, will, in so doing, engage in an act of Christian charity of the highest order. It is my wish, a wish which I believe to be protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom, that no legal action, either civil or criminal, be taken against such person who honors my wishes as I have expressed them here."

There will be a Celebration of Life for Lief Hastings Carter on Sunday, February 19. It will begin with a committal service at 2:30 at St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, 3195 Barnett Shoals Drive, Athens 30605. This will be outside in the Memorial Garden, weather permitting, the Rev. Nikki Mathis officiating. It will be followed by a reception at 3:00 at the State Botanical Garden Terrace Room, 2450 South Milledge Avenue, Athens 30605.

His most recent passion was for climate initiatives. Those who wish to give to the climate funds which he and Marilyn established at the University of Georgia may send a check to the UGA Foundation designating these initiatives:

Climate Rescue Project Fund (created 2020) and/or Carter Vickers Research Society Scholars (created 2021).

Send to: Sarah Baines, School of Public and International Affairs, 202 Herty Drive, Room 203, Athens, GA 30602.

Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.