Professor Lyons, who was emeritus in law and philosophy at Boston University, spent the first several decades of his academic career at Cornell University (first exclusively in philosophy, later on also in the law school), writing initially (and influentially) about moral and political philosophy (perhaps most famously, about Mill’s utilitarianism and rights), and then later about issues in philosophy of law (esp. in general jurisprudence and on the rule of law). Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Lyons or for those who would like to comment on the significance of his work.

(Thanks to David Gordon for the pointer.)

UPDATE: Philosopher Aaron Garrett at BU kindly shares this memorial (approved by Professor Lyons’s family):

David Lyons passed away at his home on October 24^th at the age of 91. He had an extremely distinguished philosophical and legal academic career. David was John Rawls’ first doctoral student and his thesis became the groundbreaking book Forms and Limits of Utilitarianism. After a year at Oxford under the supervision of H. L. A. Hart, he taught at Cornell for over thirty years in the philosophy department (from 1964) and for over fifteen years as a professor of law (from 1979). Upon retiring from Cornell, he joined the Boston University law faculty in 1995 and later joined the Philosophy department.  David retired from full-time teaching at Boston University in 2015 but continued teaching as an adjunct until Spring 2022, organizing and unionizing adjunct and part-time faculty, and helping to negotiate collective bargaining agreements. Throughout his long and extremely fruitful academic life David’s political and moral commitments were at least as central to him as his philosophical work — in fact his political commitments preceded his academic ones. Among the many philosophical and legal topics he made major contributions to were the study of  Bentham, Mill and the utilitarian tradition, the understanding of rights, the rule of law, legal formalism and legal theory, reparations, and the history and law connected with the creation and maintenance of the color line in the U.S. He is survived by Sandra Lyons, his wife and partner of 70 years, his three children Matthew, Emily, and Jeremy, his grandchildren, and the many friends, students, and colleagues who loved and admired him.