Retirement

I arrived on campus in 2012 as a member of the criminal law faculty and a longtime admirer of Professor Dan Givelber. But I hadn’t met Debbie Ramirez yet. Frankly, I expected what I often expect of former federal prosecutors who migrate to the academy: a buttoned-down, mildly uptight institutionalist. Boy, was I wrong.

In a scene that’s played out countless times since, Debbie rushed toward me in the hall — eyes ablaze, hands raised, stride laser-like — and embraced me. “We’re going to do a lot together,” she proclaimed. And we have.

Equal parts legal genius, political strategist, can-do field commander and loving colleague, Debbie embodies the Northeastern Law value of applying law to practice. Every single endeavor she’s pitched to me has involved reform on the ground, not in the ivory tower. Whether her particular project of the moment focused on creating job opportunities for students, police accountability measures or racial justice initiatives, each one had a chance for actual implementation. She’d investigated all the angles, figured out all the players and come up with a plan that could appeal to various constituencies.

This made working with her irresistible — not that any of us could ever resist the pull of Debbie’s magnetic personality and unbridled passion. I watched in awe as Debbie honored the memory of her late husband, Ralph Gants, chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, by creating a series of scholarships and programs designed to advance his social justice goals and provide Massachusetts law students with the opportunity to gain valuable experience in the judicial system.

For almost four decades, Debbie has pulled faculty, staff, students and graduates into her professional and personal orbit. It’s a beautiful place, and I’m honored to be there.