Professor
Reid retired from the law school at UBC on June 30, 2003. He joined
the Faculty of Law as an Assistant Professor in 1975, was promoted to
Associate Professor in 1978 and was named Assistant Dean in 1993. He
taught a wide variety of subject matters over the years such as property
law, the law of armed conflict, real estate transactions, creditors
remedies, landlord and tenant, and trusts.
Law and teaching was a second
career for Professor Reid. His previous career was serving in the Canadian
air force. He arrived at UBC with two degrees from the Royal Military
College of Canada, an institution widely regarded even today as one of the
toughest universities in
Canada.
We may have never benefited from
Professor Reid's presence in our lives as law students but for a military
flight accident in 1966. He was the sole survivor of a crew of six on a
training mission which crashed onto the Hope-Princeton slide site. The
accident changed the direction of his life. Although he continued to serve
in the military for another five years after the accident, his interests
eventually focused on law and teaching.
Professor Reid enrolled at UBC as
a law student in 1971 and graduated in 1974. During the summer breaks in
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Former Associate Professor & Assistant Dean of Career Placement and
Admissions
Retired June 30, 2003
B.A. Royal Military College of Canada 1964; LL.B. UBC 1974; M.A. - RMC -
1970
1972 and 1973, he worked as
Professor Peter Burn's research assistant. He also co-authored a number of
articles that were published and served as assistant editor of the UBC Law
Review along with Mary Newbury and Gordon Turniff during those years.
After law school, Professor Reid articled with the law firm Guild, Yule,
Lane, Schmitt & Murray. He was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1975.
He was offered a position as an Assistant Professor at the law school that
same year which he accepted leaving private practice.
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In 1975, the law school at UBC
had a brand new building. Five new professors commenced their teaching
careers that year. Professor Reid was joined by Beverly McLachlin, Jim
Taylor, QC, Dennis Pavlich and Robert Patterson as new professors to the law
school.
Professor Reid's teaching style
was to try to engage his students with the day to day applicability of the
material being taught. He was passionate about teaching and working with
students as a group and on a one on one basis. If he had one fault it was
being too generous with his time and willingness to help.
I took one class from Professor
Reid and I wish I had taken more. My natural talent is research; and his
property class allowed a paper option which I selected. That paper went on
to win the national Tory Tory writing award. It was also published in a
legal journal and has been quoted and referenced numerous times since. I owe
it all to Bob and his encouragement. I am certain there are hundreds of
other students with similar stories.
Professor Reid's retirement plans
have his agenda full of not golf but of research and writing. It is a new
chapter in his life that will allow more time with his lovely wife of 36
years, Robin, and the legal community at large to benefit from Professor
Reid's knowledge and talent. |
