WSU Law School Receives Another Major Gift

The Wayne State University Law School has received another major private gift. The Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation has donated $500,000 to be used toward the completion of the Damon J. Keith Classroom Building and Center for Civil Rights.

"We are almost completely out of space in the existing law school building, said Michelle Olmsted, the law school's director of development and alumni affairs. "This will also allow us to showcase parts of the Damon Keith Law Collection of African American Legal History.

She said that the center would provide a place for both students and community members to study and research civil rights law.

Frank Wu, dean of the law school, said that the center would be one of the only such centers at any law school in the country.

"The building will honor an alumnus of ours," he said. "This is a testament to Keith's tremendous stature in the community and we are privileged to be able to work with him."

The $500,000 gift will be payable over five years and contributes to the Wayne First capital campaign.

In the letter from the foundation to WSU President Irvin D. Reid, Peter D. Cummings, manager of the Fisher family's real estate, said, "While of course the family's commitment to Detroit and to Wayne figured in the gift, the driving force was the long-term relationship that Damon and Max enjoyed and the respect that Max and Marjorie had, and have, for Damon."

Olmsted said that the Fisher family and Keith had known each other for a long time and that the gift was made to honor Keith.

The university recently hired DSA Architects to design and build the new law school.

"We are in the process of considering programming, square footage and cost," Olmsted said. "We are not sure what the final cost will be."

Keith, who has served as a U.S. Court of Appeals Judge for the Sixth Circuit since 1977, is best known for "The Keith Decision," which he wrote in United States vs. Sinclair.