John Weistart '68

Scholar of contracts and commercial law and sports law pioneer lauded on retirement as “font of decency”

Professor John Weistart ’68 has retired after 47 years on the faculty. A scholar of contracts, commercial law, and sports law who has taught Contracts to generations of first-year students, Weistart is known for his innovations in teaching. He directed the award-winning Contracts Video Project, which produced The Contracts Experience, the first complete set of multimedia course materials to be used in law schools.

Weistart pioneered the now-developed field of sports law, having co-authored the seminal 1979 work, The Law of Sports. And in 1986, he served as the executive Producer of Fair Game, a PBS show on issues of corruption and commercialization in college sports.

Weistart, who was honored with an honorary doctorate by his undergraduate alma mater, Illinois Wesleyan University, in 1981, was lauded by his Duke Law colleagues and students, via Zoom, during his last class in April. Professor Paul Haagen called him a “font of decency.”

“He has consistently, forcefully, and gently reminded us to call on the better angels of our natures as we make decisions about how to shape and support the next generation of lawyers, the future of the law, and the way we live our lives,” Haagen said.

The next issue of Duke Law Magazine will feature a look back at Weistart’s career.