Obituary for Eugene Elbert Dais
Obituary for Professor Emeritus Dr. Eugene Elbert Dais
Despite a strong and principled opening address, Professor Emeritus Eugene (Gene) Elbert Dais yielded the floor to a persistent and pernicious adversary, COVID-19, on April 27, 2020.
Gene was born in Redding, California on July 5, 1932 to Elma Esma (Dick) Dais and Eugene Luther Dais. From an early age, he demonstrated a great desire to read, borrowing books from the judge who lived next door. He was also an active child and teen playing a number of team sports at Redding’s Shasta High School graduating in 1950. As a high school student, Gene played with his player/manager father on a men’s winter league baseball team and proudly recalled playing against a touring team with legendary African-American pitcher Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige. While at the University of California at Berkeley for his undergraduate arts degree, Gene played on the varsity basketball team. His fondest memory was playing against another legend, Bill Russell, who was a member of the UC San Francisco squad at the time and went on to a championship NBA career. During this time, Gene participated in Berkeley’s Army Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) and made extra money bartending for a sorority. Upon graduation in 1954, his interest in becoming a lawyer helped him land a military service role with the Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps of the United States Army. He told his family his job was to search for Nazi “Brown Shirts” who were responsible for Hitler’s rise to power, hiding out in America.
He went on to attend Harvard Law School, where he attained his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. While there, he fell in love with and married his musically-talented wife, Dorothy Ann (Horsefield) Dais of Needham, Massachusetts. Upon graduation in 1959, he accepted an associate professorship at Johns Hopkins University where he taught Political Science for 7 years until lured to the “Great White North” with the opportunity to help establish the first Law School at the University of Calgary. He became a member of the Law Society of Alberta in 1979. His name appears on the wall of the Faculty of Law building as a “Founder” – a meaningful moniker given his academic interest in the Founding Fathers of Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence. One would be remiss to not also mention his abiding commitment to the teachings of the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who taught, “one ought to think autonomously, free of the dictates of external authority”. Gene acknowledged that Monty Python thought Kant was a “real pissant” (See the Philosopher’s Song skit). Over the years, many students passed through Professor Dais’ classes, which also included Trusts, and interestingly, Land Use Planning. He was always delighted to explain that the superior subdivision design of Calgary’s newest neighborhoods, including Varsity Village where he lived in the same house for 50 years, was based on the first planned subdivision in Canada, constructed in the community of Don Mills in Toronto.
One of his former students had this to say about Gene: “Gene Dais was known to his students by two epic nicknames: Dr. Death and Mean Gene. In truth, he was neither. He was an old-school legal intellectual who brought the rigour of a Socratic education to the classroom and never apologized for it. He loved the law and his eyes would twinkle with a moment of joy when a student had done the work and knew the answer. He could be unrelenting when they did not. He expected his charges to do the work, grasp the detail and come to a reasoned understanding - the classic virtues of lawyering. And that was Gene Dais - a classicist and a classic himself. The knowledge and discipline he imparted will live in the legal profession in this country for decades to come.”
His love of writing and teaching provided him great opportunities to travel to various places around the world as a member of the World Congress of Philosophy. The family remembers fondly summer vacations spent in Redding with Gene’s extended family. A favorite memory were the 3 on 3 basketball challenges, Dais clan versus Gilbreath clan. Dais clan typically won, although the last year there was some controversy. A winner could not be declared. Awards were provided though, including a button provided to Gene which read “I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken”.
Gene taught well into his late 70’s as Professor Emeritus at the University of Calgary. During this time, he continued to earnestly and steadfastly develop his book, DVD and record album collections. Gene was able to enjoy his collections until last fall, thanks to the unwavering help of Tracy Snell, Chuck Sunberg and especially Nicole Norton. The decline in Gene’s health in his last years did not dull his verbal and intellectual sparring skills, which he continued to hone in contests with his exceptional medical team, Dr. Rodney Place, Dr. David Keegan and Doreen Nasr (of Hillcrest Extendicare). Sadly, COVID-19 prevailed in this final contest of wills.
The family is grateful to the caring attention of the Hillcrest Extendicare team, who took turns sitting with Gene in his final hours since families, during this pandemic, were prohibited entry to the facility. Although he missed being home with his treasured miniature schnauzer Fritzie, Gene made many friends at Hillcrest (he specifically mentioned Donna) and was the happiest the family had seen him in years.
Gene is survived by his wife, Dorothy; daughters, Julia Dais (Craig Smith) of Oyama, British Columbia and Jacqueline Dais-Visca (Rick Visca) of Toronto, Ontario, as well as four grandchildren (Charles Smith, Katie Smith, Madeleine Visca, and Thomas Visca). Gene was the eldest of four children. He was predeceased by his brother, Terry Dais, and is survived by his sister, Deanna Gilbreath of Redding, California, and brother, Gregory Dais of Visalia, California, and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, great grandnieces and great grandnephews.
If Professor Dais was given one last opportunity to teach us before passing, we have no doubt he would have wanted to quote Will Rogers to remind us “When you’re through learning, you’re through”. His message to book worms everywhere was if you run out of book shelf space, there is always the stairs.
At the end, Gene and COVID-19 agreed on one thing – no funeral service. In lieu of flowers, and in consideration of his inexplicable joy at the sound of barking schnauzers, the family encourages you to donate to your local animal shelter in his memory. Gene’s adoration of dogs, which passion he passed down to his daughters and grandchildren, was second only to his love of the law and teaching. He will be missed but his commitment and values live on, especially in the lives and work of the students he influenced, and in his scholarship.
To view and share photos, condolences and memories of Gene, please visit www.choicememorial.com
Despite a strong and principled opening address, Professor Emeritus Eugene (Gene) Elbert Dais yielded the floor to a persistent and pernicious adversary, COVID-19, on April 27, 2020.
Gene was born in Redding, California on July 5, 1932 to Elma Esma (Dick) Dais and Eugene Luther Dais. From an early age, he demonstrated a great desire to read, borrowing books from the judge who lived next door. He was also an active child and teen playing a number of team sports at Redding’s Shasta High School graduating in 1950. As a high school student, Gene played with his player/manager father on a men’s winter league baseball team and proudly recalled playing against a touring team with legendary African-American pitcher Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige. While at the University of California at Berkeley for his undergraduate arts degree, Gene played on the varsity basketball team. His fondest memory was playing against another legend, Bill Russell, who was a member of the UC San Francisco squad at the time and went on to a championship NBA career. During this time, Gene participated in Berkeley’s Army Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) and made extra money bartending for a sorority. Upon graduation in 1954, his interest in becoming a lawyer helped him land a military service role with the Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps of the United States Army. He told his family his job was to search for Nazi “Brown Shirts” who were responsible for Hitler’s rise to power, hiding out in America.
He went on to attend Harvard Law School, where he attained his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. While there, he fell in love with and married his musically-talented wife, Dorothy Ann (Horsefield) Dais of Needham, Massachusetts. Upon graduation in 1959, he accepted an associate professorship at Johns Hopkins University where he taught Political Science for 7 years until lured to the “Great White North” with the opportunity to help establish the first Law School at the University of Calgary. He became a member of the Law Society of Alberta in 1979. His name appears on the wall of the Faculty of Law building as a “Founder” – a meaningful moniker given his academic interest in the Founding Fathers of Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence. One would be remiss to not also mention his abiding commitment to the teachings of the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who taught, “one ought to think autonomously, free of the dictates of external authority”. Gene acknowledged that Monty Python thought Kant was a “real pissant” (See the Philosopher’s Song skit). Over the years, many students passed through Professor Dais’ classes, which also included Trusts, and interestingly, Land Use Planning. He was always delighted to explain that the superior subdivision design of Calgary’s newest neighborhoods, including Varsity Village where he lived in the same house for 50 years, was based on the first planned subdivision in Canada, constructed in the community of Don Mills in Toronto.
One of his former students had this to say about Gene: “Gene Dais was known to his students by two epic nicknames: Dr. Death and Mean Gene. In truth, he was neither. He was an old-school legal intellectual who brought the rigour of a Socratic education to the classroom and never apologized for it. He loved the law and his eyes would twinkle with a moment of joy when a student had done the work and knew the answer. He could be unrelenting when they did not. He expected his charges to do the work, grasp the detail and come to a reasoned understanding - the classic virtues of lawyering. And that was Gene Dais - a classicist and a classic himself. The knowledge and discipline he imparted will live in the legal profession in this country for decades to come.”
His love of writing and teaching provided him great opportunities to travel to various places around the world as a member of the World Congress of Philosophy. The family remembers fondly summer vacations spent in Redding with Gene’s extended family. A favorite memory were the 3 on 3 basketball challenges, Dais clan versus Gilbreath clan. Dais clan typically won, although the last year there was some controversy. A winner could not be declared. Awards were provided though, including a button provided to Gene which read “I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken”.
Gene taught well into his late 70’s as Professor Emeritus at the University of Calgary. During this time, he continued to earnestly and steadfastly develop his book, DVD and record album collections. Gene was able to enjoy his collections until last fall, thanks to the unwavering help of Tracy Snell, Chuck Sunberg and especially Nicole Norton. The decline in Gene’s health in his last years did not dull his verbal and intellectual sparring skills, which he continued to hone in contests with his exceptional medical team, Dr. Rodney Place, Dr. David Keegan and Doreen Nasr (of Hillcrest Extendicare). Sadly, COVID-19 prevailed in this final contest of wills.
The family is grateful to the caring attention of the Hillcrest Extendicare team, who took turns sitting with Gene in his final hours since families, during this pandemic, were prohibited entry to the facility. Although he missed being home with his treasured miniature schnauzer Fritzie, Gene made many friends at Hillcrest (he specifically mentioned Donna) and was the happiest the family had seen him in years.
Gene is survived by his wife, Dorothy; daughters, Julia Dais (Craig Smith) of Oyama, British Columbia and Jacqueline Dais-Visca (Rick Visca) of Toronto, Ontario, as well as four grandchildren (Charles Smith, Katie Smith, Madeleine Visca, and Thomas Visca). Gene was the eldest of four children. He was predeceased by his brother, Terry Dais, and is survived by his sister, Deanna Gilbreath of Redding, California, and brother, Gregory Dais of Visalia, California, and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, great grandnieces and great grandnephews.
If Professor Dais was given one last opportunity to teach us before passing, we have no doubt he would have wanted to quote Will Rogers to remind us “When you’re through learning, you’re through”. His message to book worms everywhere was if you run out of book shelf space, there is always the stairs.
At the end, Gene and COVID-19 agreed on one thing – no funeral service. In lieu of flowers, and in consideration of his inexplicable joy at the sound of barking schnauzers, the family encourages you to donate to your local animal shelter in his memory. Gene’s adoration of dogs, which passion he passed down to his daughters and grandchildren, was second only to his love of the law and teaching. He will be missed but his commitment and values live on, especially in the lives and work of the students he influenced, and in his scholarship.
To view and share photos, condolences and memories of Gene, please visit www.choicememorial.com