C. Neal Tate, born October 17, 1943, passed away September 13, 2009, in Nashville, Tennessee. At the time of his death, Neal was the Alexander Heard Distinguished Service Professor, professor of political science, and professor of law at Vanderbilt University, where he had also served as chair of the political science department since 2003. He had previously served on the faculty of the University of North Texas from 1970 through 2003. With a deep sense of sadness, his colleagues and friends at both institutions say goodbye to a beloved friend, teacher, and colleague. Neal's passing has been a great loss for many people around the country and around the world. His contributions were many, and while we will no longer have the benefit of his kindness, keen intellect, and fine sense of humor, we will continue to benefit from his many legacies.
Neal was born in Gastonia, North Carolina, the oldest of the four sons of Chester Marshall Tate and Pearl Whitaker Tate. He earned his BA cum laude from Wake Forest in 1965, and received his MA and Ph.D. in political science from Tulane University in 1970. At Tulane, Neal met and married his wife of 43 years, Carol McKenzie Tate. Neal built a prominent scholarly career, publishing visible and important research on international human rights and the workings of judicial institutions around the world. These contributions added greatly to our understanding of the law and how legal institutions advance the prospects for democracy and the freedoms associated with it.
When Neal embarked on his academic career, there was little genuine scholarly knowledge of how judicial systems worked, especially in less developed and less democratic nations. Yet Neal recognized that judicial institutions can shape the quality of life enjoyed by the people in these countries in important ways. He addressed this lacuna by collecting new data that would shed light on these vital processes. His efforts gave life to a new subfield known as “comparative courts.” With both respect and affection, younger scholars often refer to Neal as “the godfather” of the field. This area of scholarship proved to be his life's work, and his efforts continued up to the day he died. Prior to his death, Neal had just received additional funding from the National Science Foundation to study judicial systems in Latin America, was working on two books, and had just published an article in one of our leading journals.
Neal's interest in advancing the quality of people's lives, which motivated his collection of all these valuable data, also led him to study directly the advancement of human rights. As someone who believed that political context matters, he hypothesized that domestic disputes in a country would shape the prospects for human rights. His instincts proved sound, showing that repression, for instance, did indeed have serious effects on human rights for people around the globe. Neal then started to explore whether international agreements affected human rights, and marshaled evidence that showed his judgment was on target.
Neal's research career is a wonderful testimony to the tireless efforts of a scholar interested in unpacking the workings of fundamental legal processes that touch on the prospects for democratic government. His work will continue to be cited, and his data will continue to be analyzed. His intellectual legacy will endure.
Neal was also a deeply committed and successful teacher who shared his excitement about research with all his students. As a mentor of graduate students he led his students to important problems and then helped develop their research methodology. As a result, his students from both the University of North Texas and Vanderbilt went on to great careers.
As a faculty member, Neal began his teaching career at the University of North Texas in 1970, where he served as chair of the political science department from 1980 to 1986. He became a Regents Professor and later served as dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. Neal played a central role in modernizing and building the political science department and programs at UNT. Under his leadership, both formal and informal, the department transformed itself from a service department into a well-regarded research and graduate training institution. Neal's efforts actively shaped the department's professional standards, curriculum, governance, graduate program, and external recognition. He was a leader, a model colleague, and a generous mentor, and throughout his 33 years at UNT, did yeoman departmental and university service.
His colleagues at Vanderbilt also knew of Neal as a gifted administrator. His administrative experience at North Texas proved helpful when he arrived in Nashville. The department was in trouble. The size of the faculty had shrunk from 18 to fewer than 10, and the graduate program, as a result, was struggling. Neal was given the support and resources to rebuild, and he used both with care, shrewdness, and his own special style, which is best characterized as understated aggressiveness. He used his keen understanding of the discipline of political science to develop and execute a plan to regain national visibility as a top department. And so he did. By the time of his death, the Vanderbilt department had grown far larger than it had ever been in its history and had also grown in quality and in spirit, with over 25 faculty members and a robust group of over 40 graduate students.
Colleagues at both Vanderbilt and North Texas recall that Neal had the highest professional standards but was among the least confrontational of people. He had the unique ability to be able to take a stand and push for excellence, but he never had to fall back on the strategy of “breaking eggs to make an omelet.” Rather, the “omelet” he made involved no breaking of eggs (or anything else), only building, nurturing, and finding a way of persuading others of the correctness and wisdom of his well-formulated and professional standards.
Our only regret is that Neal left us far too soon. He faced adversity in the same way he enjoyed the many successes and accomplishments in his life—quietly, without public displays of emotion. But his spirit, generosity, vision, and professionalism gave rise to new norms of excellence that shaped two political science departments and made great contributions to two important areas of scholarship.
His passing is a profound one for his beloved wife Carol, daughter Erin, and son-in-law Scott, as well as his many students, friends, and colleagues at Vanderbilt, North Texas, and around the world and in the profession of political science. We are all lessened by his absence but strengthened immeasurably by his having touched our lives. Vanderbilt and North Texas are better places because of his time on our campuses and in our communities.
