By Linda Laderman
Legal News
Teaching is a significant part of the late Richard Tarnas’s legacy.
Tarnas taught government contracts at the University of Detroit Mercy Law School (Detroit Mercy Law) for five decades. In 2006, he was recognized as the school’s first Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year.
Upon accepting the award Tarnas said, “I found a real thrill in appearing at each class session and drawing the students out as to their interests, skills and abilities, and then reviewing their papers as written.”
For 25 years, Tarnas served as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command headquartered in Warren, where he managed a staff of more than 30 civilian attorneys.
During his work with the Army, he negotiated contracts for purchasing vehicles and aerospace components for the Apollo mission that included astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon.
It was how Tarnas melded his work experiences with his hands-on approach to teaching that alumni still remember.
Two Detroit Mercy Law alumni remember Tarnas, who died last spring at age 92, as the person who always found the time to help his staff and students reach their goals, despite a demanding and successful career.
“After my parents, Dick Tarnas was the most influential person in my life,” said James Redford, Detroit Mercy Law alumnus and director of the Michigan Veterans’ Affairs Agency.
After law school graduation Redford was commissioned as a Navy JAG.
“I am convinced that I would not have been selected as a Navy JAG had it not been for Dick Tarnas’s guidance,” Redford said.
Redford grew up in the same Detroit area neighborhood as the Tarnas children, a place where families were big, neighbors were friends and, said Redford, because of those close relationships, “all of the kids had more than one set of parents looking out for them.”
Even though Tarnas was recognized in legal circles for his brilliant legal mind, he always made the time to give advice and support when asked, Redford said.
“He ran with some big giants in the law in those days, but he was extremely modest,” Redford recalled. “He was so bright and engaging, not hesitating to make time to offer his insights when asked.
“The lesson he gave me of how to support our young lawyers has really impacted my managerial abilities,” Redford said. “When I asked him if he felt any anxiousness when one of his staff attorneys left for another position, he said, ‘No, you have to support your people. If this isn’t the right place for them, they need to move on.’ “
About three years ago Redford said he wrote Tarnas a note thanking him for all of his insights as a neighbor, person, and a lawyer.
“My father died in 1996, and Dick would tell me how proud of me my dad would have been,” Redford said. “I still get choked up when I think about it.”
Another Detroit Mercy Law graduate, Bill Blakely, credits Tarnas’s class on government contracts as one of the reasons he got his first job offer when he moved to Washington D.C., almost 30 years ago
Blakely, a senior partner in the D.C. office of Polsinelli, a Kansas City based law firm, came to Detroit Mercy Law after serving as an aviator in the Marines.
“It was absolutely amazing that Detroit Mercy had a class in government contracts at that time,” Blakely said. “The materials Professor Tarnas used were casebooks from the most preeminent professors in government contracts.”
Blakely said when he thinks about how Tarnas influenced his life he realizes that everything he has done in his profession was affected by his government contracts course.
“Government contracts was not the most exciting topic in the world, but Professor Tarnas made it fun. He was just so genuine.” Blakely said. “He took a very tedious technical class and made it interesting. And because of that you became very interested in the way the government specifies how things have to be built.
“The amazing thing was when I interviewed with the general counsel of the Navy in D.C., was how shocked he was that I had taken a government contracts course in Detroit,” Blakeley said. “I received a job offer from the Department of the Navy. I think, in part, it was due to that course.”
“It was a real jolt when I found out that Professor Tarnas had died,” Blakely said. “It all goes back to that course. You don’t realize at the time what path you will take and how that will influence your life.”
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