Myron wrote this obituary- the “facts” of his life.
(Please also see his family’s reflections)
Myron Fink was born in New York City on May 6, 1924, to Sarah Kaufman and Leon David Fink. After his mother’s death when he was four, he lived in a Jewish orphanage in Manhattan for about ten years. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in 1942. He was a student in the College of Agriculture at Cornell University from 1942-43, served in the US Army from 1943-46 (where he saw action with the 103rd Infantry Division in France, Germany, and Austria), and returned to the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell where he graduated with his A.B. “with distinction in Philosophy” in 1948. He studied at New York Law School from 1948-51 and earned his LL.B. “Cum Laude.” He was admitted to the Bar of the State of New York in 1951. He practiced law in the firm of Morris Diamond in Queens for the next several years and later worked as a Court Attache in the Court of General Sessions in Manhattan. In 1955, he married Elka Myra Person. The couple settled in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, and Myron began studying to become a professional law librarian at the School of Library Service at Columbia University. Upon his graduation, the couple moved to Los Angeles in 1957, where Myron was employed as Reference Librarian in the UCLA School of Law. A year later, he accepted a position of Law Librarian and Assistant Professor of Law at Loyola University Law School. There he taught Legal Research and Writing, Legal Bibliography, and Legal Writing. He remained in this position for five years, during which time he earned a Masters in Law degree from New York Law School. His master’s thesis called “Research in California Law” was later published and used by students in various law schools in California. During their time in Los Angeles, the couple had two children.
In 1963, the family moved to Albuquerque, NM, where Myron accepted the position of Law Librarian and Associate Professor of Law at UNM. During the next 27 years, Myron developed what many considered to be the finest Law School Library for its size school in the southwest. It became the legal reference center for the state of New Mexico and served as the local bar law library. Myron taught courses in Legal Research and Writing, Equitable Remedies, Remedies, and Injunctions. For many years and up to the year he retired, Myron taught an innovative seminar in Law and Social Change for third year students which was critical and challenging and very popular. His published writings include “Good Books for Law Students,” an annotated selection of outstanding books for law students. During these years, he was active in the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild.
In 1994, Myron and Elka moved to Bellingham to be closer to their children. In these last years of his life, he pursued many interests including gardening, mediation, progressive politics, and spending time in the outdoors.
