Phillips Professorship draws support from band of brothers

The paratroopers of Company I, 513th parachute infantry, followed Lt. Dickson Phillips through the Battle of the Bulge, across the Rhine and deep into Germany as World War II drew to a close. They were tight-knit, a band of brothers and inseparable until Phillips was evacuated with a serious wound from a firefight.

“He was one hell of a combat soldier, I tell you that,” said Dean Swem, Company I's first sergeant. “He was always very calm, cool and collected. You would never think he could be so tough in combat, but there was steel in that man. He was a real combat leader.”

Phillips came home with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star and settled down to earn a law degree at Carolina, alongside classmates Bill Friday, Terry Sanford and Bill Aycock. So began a distinguished 50-year career as attorney, law professor, dean of the law school and federal judge.

 

  

At his retirement in 1999, Phillips' law clerks decided to create a professorship in his honor. Sparked by an anonymous $50,000 lead gift, his 60 former clerks from all over the country set out to raise $333,000 to qualify for a state matching grant of $167,000, resulting in a half-million dollar J. Dickson Phillips Jr. Distinguished Professorship in the School of Law.

Here's where Swem reenters the picture. Now retired and living in Michigan, he saw an article about the fund drive in his son's Carolina Law alumni magazine.

“I put the wheels in motion and got the guys (from Company I) to get up some money toward that chair,” Swem said. “There aren't too many of us left, but about 20 gave.”

Among the donors are another judge, a construction worker, resort manager, a plumbing supplier and a postal worker.

The paratroopers kept in touch over the years and held annual reunions until recently, when their numbers dwindled and travel became difficult. Still, they've rallied to help one who earned their admiration long ago.

“In my view he has always commanded respect in his very quiet way,” Swem said. “He is just one of those people—instantly, other people respect him.”

Phillips remembers his old first sergeant—who rose to the rank of major— fondly, and they visit occasionally. “He's a good friend,” he said. “We have a mutual admiration society.”

Phillips joined the faculty as a visiting professor in 1959 and became a full-time faculty member the next year. During his tenure as dean, from 1964 to 1974, the school moved from Manning Hall to Van Hecke-Wettach and launched its first major fund-raising campaign to build an endowment.

Phillips spent much of his time recruiting faculty and trying to keep them when other schools came courting—a situation every Carolina dean appreciates. When fully funded, the Phillips professorship will help the school recruit or retain a distinguished teacher or scholar who is committed to serving the people and institutions of North Carolina.

Gene Nichol, dean of the law school, said the professorship honors one of the greatest all-time members of North Carolina's legal community. “Dick Phillips is one of the most highly regarded judges in modern North Carolina history,” he said. “It's not surprising that people from completely different walks of life—like former soldiers—would hold that opinion of him. He rose to the top of the legal and educational fields and did it in a way that is marked strongly by character. That's the way his war buddies feel and the way the lawyers of North Carolina feel.”

Speed Hallman

To make a gift to the Dickson Phillips Professorship in the School of Law, contact Mary Murray at 919-962-7701 or msmurray@email.unc.edu.