Today in Wheeling History: June 23 — David C. Baldus, legal scholar and death penalty researcher, was born in Wheeling (1935).
David Christopher Baldus was born on June 23, 1935, in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Frank and Mary (Kane) Baldus. Though born in Wheeling, he was raised in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1957 with a degree in government, then served as a lieutenant in the Army Security Agency in Korea from 1958 to 1959. After his military service, he earned a master’s degree in political science from the University of Pittsburgh in 1962 and both a JD (1964) and LLM (1969) from Yale Law School.
Baldus practiced law in Pittsburgh before joining the University of Iowa College of Law in 1969, where he became the Joseph B. Tye Professor of Law. He gained national recognition for his empirical research on racial disparities in capital punishment, particularly the landmark “Baldus Study,” which analyzed over 2,000 Georgia murder cases and was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court case McCleskey v. Kemp (1987). His work earned him the Harry Kalven Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in Law and Society in 1987.
Baldus died of colon cancer on June 13, 2011, in Iowa City, Iowa. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at the Harvest Nature Preserve in Iowa City.
To learn more: Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/cuybsvdy), Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/3h9sr5z5), Lensing Funeral Home (https://tinyurl.com/27pcjmeb), Northwestern University—Baldus Study (https://tinyurl.com/4thxr99n)
Photo credits: Find a Grave, Lensing Funeral Home, Goodreads, Biblio, Northwestern University
David Christopher Baldus was born on June 23, 1935, in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Frank and Mary (Kane) Baldus. Though born in Wheeling, he was raised in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1957 with a degree in government, then served as a lieutenant in the Army Security Agency in Korea from 1958 to 1959. After his military service, he earned a master’s degree in political science from the University of Pittsburgh in 1962 and both a JD (1964) and LLM (1969) from Yale Law School.
Baldus practiced law in Pittsburgh before joining the University of Iowa College of Law in 1969, where he became the Joseph B. Tye Professor of Law. He gained national recognition for his empirical research on racial disparities in capital punishment, particularly the landmark “Baldus Study,” which analyzed over 2,000 Georgia murder cases and was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court case McCleskey v. Kemp (1987). His work earned him the Harry Kalven Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in Law and Society in 1987.
Baldus died of colon cancer on June 13, 2011, in Iowa City, Iowa. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at the Harvest Nature Preserve in Iowa City.
To learn more: Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/cuybsvdy), Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/3h9sr5z5), Lensing Funeral Home (https://tinyurl.com/27pcjmeb), Northwestern University—Baldus Study (https://tinyurl.com/4thxr99n)
Photo credits: Find a Grave, Lensing Funeral Home, Goodreads, Biblio, Northwestern University
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