Former Marquette law professor Wallace Alexander MacBain, III passed away on July 17, 2009, as the result of complications from a fall at his home in Nashotah, Wisconsin. Professor MacBain was born in Audubon, New Jersey, on March 21, 1933. His father, Wallace A. MacBain, Jr., was a member of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipworkers of America.
Prof. MacBain graduated magna cum laude from Rutgers Law School in 1959 where he was also a member of the law review. He spent the early years of his professional life involved with school desegregation issues and served as a consultant to the United States government on that subject. He joined the Marquette faculty in 1965 where he remained until his retirement at the end of the 1994-95 academic year. As a faculty member, he served under Deans Seitz, Boden, DeGuire, and Barkan.
At Marquette, he served for several years as director of admissions (when that was still a position held by a faculty member). Over the course of his career he taught a wide variety of courses, but his specialties were Constitutional Law, Civil Rights Legislation, and Conflicts of Law. He was frequently quoted in the Milwaukee newspapers, and his most widely cited article had to do with the insanity defense.
His colleagues remember him as a devoted academic citizen and as a wonderful story teller. He is survived by his wife as well as two children and two step-children and a number of grandchildren.
Professor McBain began his academic career at the University of Louisville Law School in 1961 where he remained until joining the Marquette faculty in 1965.
His profile in the 1966 Association of American Law Schools Directory of Law Teachers lists indicates that during the early years of his career he regularly taught Criminal Law, Torts, Agency, Jurisprudence, Legal Bibliography, Restitution, Damages, Criminal Procedure, Conflicts of Laws, and Property.
He was also a consultant to the United States Department of Education.