Doug Heidenreich, longtime William Mitchell law professor, dies at age 90

Josh Verges, Olivia Stevens, Pioneer Press
·4 min read

Doug Heidenreich, a former dean and longtime faculty member at what is now the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, died Wednesday at age 90.

Born in St. Paul, Heidenreich went on to play guard for the University of Minnesota football team. That’s where he realized he’s a “people person,” a discovery that led to a career in law following his service in the Army.

“Lawyers try to help people. That is fundamentally what lawyers do,” he said in an interview for the law school’s magazine in 2012.

In 1964, two years after graduating from William Mitchell, Heidenreich became the school’s dean. He did that job for 11 years, returning to the faculty just as the school moved to its current location on Summit Avenue.

He took emeritus status in 2014.

“When he was nearing retirement, he continued to teach without receiving a salary, and then even after he retired, he continued to come to the office to tutor students who needed additional help,” Hennepin County District Judge Colette Routel said for an article on the Mitchell Hamline website.

Practical approach to the law

Heidenreich in his faculty profile described himself as a curmudgeon who rejects “‘modern’ approaches to teaching that employ technological gimmicks, not for their pedagogical value, but because they are available.”

That included an opposition to the first-in-the-nation hybrid law degree program the school started in 2015, combining online and in-person instruction.

“Debate, discussion, that sort of thing takes place more in law school than elsewhere,” he told the Pioneer Press. “I think we lose a lot of that in this sort of program.”

But he also loved the school’s practical approach to the law.

“William Mitchell is distinctive in that, before it was popular or a trend, we emphasized practical experience, gave students an opportunity, as early as possible, to work on real problems with real people through our clinical programs,” he said for the school’s 2012 article.

Phebe Haugen had Heidenrich as a professor before joining him on Mitchell Hamline’s faculty and becoming his “best friend.” When she enrolled in the school, she was one of five female students and said she could count on Heidenrich’s support and kindness in a male-dominated environment.

“He was very happy we were there and very supportive of all of us in a very appropriate and kind way, and so I loved being there as a student,” she said. “And when I came back to teach there, I was thrilled. It was like coming home.”

Haugen said she worked closely with Heidenrich when they were both professors, and while he was hard, they knew he cared about them.

“He was somebody who never gave you an impression that was false,” she said. “He was as genuine as the day is long, and he never said anything about anybody behind their back that he wouldn’t say to their face. And sometimes those things were a little tough.”

She added: “Students were either terrified of him or they adored him, and frequently it was both.”

Few had more impact

Other former students also remembered Heidenreich as a caring but intimidating figure with high standards.

“Terrified me in first year Contracts, but adored his PR class the next year,” one wrote Thursday on the school’s Facebook page.

Heidenreich enjoyed France and acting, and in 2000 he published the history of William Mitchell’s first 100 years.

“There are very few people who have had more of an impact on our law school than Doug did,” President and Dean Anthony Niedwiecki wrote in an email Thursday announcing Heidenreich’s death.

Throughout difficult times at the Mitchell Hamline, Haugen said Heidenreich served as a stable force who led with integrity and candor.

“You knew that everything was safe, nothing terrible was gonna happen, because there was somebody there who had not only institutional memory, but a devotion to the place and an understanding of everybody in that room,” she said. “Anyone who knew him at all well would have said that that he was completely trustworthy, because you were gonna get exactly what he told you you’re gonna get.”

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