David Sturtevant Ruder

David Sturtevant Ruder (May 25, 1929 – February 15, 2020) was a U.S. scholar and civil servant, one of the first securities law professors. He was the dean of the Northwestern University School of Law in 1977–1985. In 1987–1989, he served as the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Biography

Education and early career

David Sturtevant Ruder was born in 1929 in Wausau, Wisconsin. His father was also a lawyer. Ruder received a bachelor's degree cum laude in 1951 from Williams College in Massachusetts. After college, he was drafted to the U.S. Army and served until 1954, rising to the rank of First Lieutenant. In the Army, he was assigned to administrative duties at the Central Intelligence Agency. Ruder confessed that he had viewed his own CIA file, finding there a remark that he was unsuited for undercover jobs as "too honest". Ruder practically became one of the very first securities law professors.

Ruder effectively ended the period of "the rush to deregulation" at the Agency and shifted the balance of power at the Commission away from the Reagan-espoused "self-correcting markets" doctrine.

Ruder practiced with the Chicago-based law firm Baker & McKenzie in 1994-1999,

He became the William W. Gurley Memorial Professor of Law Emeritus at Northwestern University School of Law on 1 September 2005.

Awards and recognition Ruder received an honorary Doctor of Laws in 2002 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Ruder was honoured with the Institutional Investor Mutual Fund Industry Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. In 2016, he joined the American College of Corporate Governance as an honorary fellow.