History of the Decalogue Foundation

The Decalogue Society of Lawyers created the Decalogue Foundation, Inc. in the 1960s to provide scholarships for deserving law students and to carry out other charitable and educational activities related to the law and lawyers. Its principal activity over the years has been raising money to establish and fund nine endowment funds at seven law schools: at Hebrew University Law School and the six Chicago-area law schools listed below.

The Decalogue Foundation worked hard to raise the money needed to start the scholarships and over a number of years raised $50,000 to endow the Fellowship at Hebrew University Law School. Over time the Decalogue Foundation has raised money to establish and expand scholarship funds at each school. Currently, at these seven law schools, there is an endowed total of over $250,000. The schools award the scholarships each year.

Scholarship funds

Scholarships dedicated in honor or in memory of deserving Decalogue members:

• Chicago-Kent College School of Law: One scholarship in memory of Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz and a second scholarship in honor of Judge Ilana Diamond Rovner
• DePaul University School of Law: In memory of Samuel Shkolnik
• Hebrew University Law School Perpetual Fellowship: Named for a member of the Decalogue Society each year. View the list of previous Hebrew University honorees
• John Marshall Law School: In memory of Professor Melvin B. Lewis
• Loyola University School of Law: In memory of Judge Harold A. Siegan
• Northwestern University School of Law: One scholarship in memory of Richard G. Kahn and a second scholarship in memory of Oscar M. Nudelman
• University of Chicago Law School: In memory of Paul G. Annes

Other current Decalogue Foundation projects:

1. Helping the Decalogue Society fund its ongoing award-winning public legal lecture series.

2. Under the leadership of Decalogue past president Rabbi James Gordon, the Foundation has been involved in the important project of the Decalogue Committee on Jewish Community Professionals and Institutions. That project helps Jewish communal institutions and professionals deal with the many legal aspects of their relationships in an informed and cooperative way, including providing training for lawyers in this area and providing for arbitration and mediation of issues and disputes.

3. We are planning to resume publication of a revitalized Decalogue Journal - a journal that has been published for several decades, is located at many law school libraries, and has been cited by various courts (including in a Supreme Court decision). We will be looking for participation from the area's law schools and members of the Bar.

Daniel Beederman

Sharon L. Eiseman
Ralph M. Goren

Susan K. Horn - Secretary

Shellie Karno

Lawrence R. Krupp - Treasurer
Charles Levy
Robert W. Matanky - Vice President
Ralph Ruebner

Gerald Schur- President
Kenneth R. Siegan

For questions about the Decalogue Foundation, please call Gerald Schur,

President of the Foundation, at  (312) 263-6493.