D. Fenton Adams, a 1949 graduate of the Dickinson School of Law and a professor of law from from 1949 to 1965, died on Dec. 13.
Fenton was born in West Reading, Pa., and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He is a graduate of Dickinson College. After leaving the Dickinson School of Law in 1965, he served as assistant, acting and interim dean and dean of the law school at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 1965-1970 and 1977-1993, and then as professor of law at the University of Mississippi at Oxford (Ole Miss) from 1970-77, visiting professor at Stetson University 1976-77 and 1993-2001 and the University of Tennessee college of Law in 1993.
A scholar of contract law, Fenton authored several works including, "The FDIC at 25" and a definitive analysis of the Mississippi Uniform Commercial Code in the 1970s. He was a member of the Pennsylvania and Arkansas bar associations, the American Bar Association, his college fraternity, Alpha Chi Rho, the Corpus Juris Society at The Dickinson School of Law and the Inns of Court.
He was a part-time resident of St. Petersburg Beach and Mobile Alabama. A memorial service will be held in Mobile, Ala., at a later date. Tributes and memories of Professor Fenton may be shared online.