Curtis Randall Reitz, C’51, L’56, an emeritus professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Penn’s provost from 1971 to 1972, died on April 2. He was 95.

Mr. Reitz was born in 1929 in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from high school in 1947. He then came to Penn, where he received an AB in history in 1951, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. After his graduation, he served in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps as a second lieutenant during the Korean War. After being discharged, he attended Penn’s Law School, completing his LLB degree in 1956 and graduating first in his class, summa cum laude. While at Penn Law, he served as the editor-in-chief of the Law Review from 1955 to 1956 and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. He then served as a law clerk for US. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren for one year.

Mr. Reitz joined Penn Law’s faculty in 1957 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1960 and to a full professor in 1963. Mr. Reitz accepted the position of vice president and provost of the University in January 1971. Mr. Reitz was Penn’s first provost to also be appointed vice president as part of a reorganization by President Emeritus Martin Meyerson, which was intended to clarify the roles of the two chief officers of the University and to, in effect, appoint a deputy president. Mr. Reitz resigned as provost in December 1972, citing his desire to focus on the field of law (Almanac September 5, 1972). As provost, Mr. Reitz helped to improve the undergraduate experience by establishing the college houses, University Scholars, and freshman seminars. He also changed the financial structure of the University to end the running of annual deficits, requiring the deans to take on more financial responsibility for their schools.

In 1973, Mr. Reitz became the Algernon Sidney Biddle Professor of Law. He continued to teach at Penn Law until retiring in 2008 and taking emeritus status, teaching courses that focused on contracts and commercial transactions, professional responsibility, sentencing and post-conviction remedies, and international commercial law.

For more than 25 years, Mr. Reitz was a member of the Uniform State Laws Conference, where he represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His work as a commissioner, complementing his teaching interests, included participation in the revision of the Uniform Commercial Code. Mr. Reitz also served on the board of Glen Mills Schools, the International House of Philadelphia, and the Committee of Seventy, a civic watchdog agency in Philadelphia.

Mr. Reitz is survived by his wife of 42 years, Judith Renzulli; his children, Kevin, Joel, and Whitney; his three stepdaughters, Amy, Beth, and Sara Renzulli; ten grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will be held in August in Keene Valley.