Nicholas D. Constan, L’64, a former adjunct professor in the Wharton School’s department of legal studies and an administrator in the Wharton School, passed away on May 2 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 83. 

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Mr. Constan was the son of Americans working in Lebanon. In 1951, Mr. Constan’s mother moved him and his brother to Brockton, Massachusetts, where he attended high school. Mr. Constan then received a BA in political science from the University of Massachusetts in 1960 and a JD from Penn’s Law School in 1964, where he concentrated in foreign affairs. While earning the latter degree, Mr. Constan served as an instructor in the U.S. Military Reserves Service, a position he held until 1968. 

Mr. Constan joined Penn’s staff before its faculty. Between 1965 and 1975, he served as an interviewer in Penn’s office of admissions, assistant to the dean of admissions, and director of Harrison College House. During this era, he also worked as a lecturer in political science at Rutgers University Camden and as an adjunct professor of law and political science at Widener University. In 1975, he joined the faculty of the Wharton School as an adjunct professor of legal studies (a subject that is now part of the department of legal studies & business ethics at Wharton). He retired from Penn in 1996 and taught classes until 2019. “He became a beloved professor, adored and respected by over 3,000 students,” said Mr. Constan’s family in an online tribute. “His intelligence, his commitment to young people, his unique teaching style and great wit were appreciated by all who were fortunate to interact with him, as students, colleagues, friends, and family.”

In addition to his teaching duties, Mr. Constan held several administrative roles at Penn. While teaching, he also served as a personnel relations administrator (leading Wharton’s compensation program), director of Wharton’s graduate division (a role in which he led the MBA program), an administrative fellow in the University Council Service, and from 1986 to 1994, assistant to Penn president Sheldon Hackney and interim president Claire Fagin. When hiring Mr. Constan as his assistant, President Hackney said, “Nick Constan’s career at the University has touched a variety of bases [and] he has received high marks from those he has served. He is deeply involved in campus life and cares a lot about our community and all its members. I am greatly pleased that he will be joining us on July 1” (Almanac July 15, 1986). In a 1979 Almanac profile (October 18, 1979), Mr. Constan compared himself to the Road Runner because of all the running he had to do to keep up with his busy schedule. 

Aside from his career-related duties, Mr. Constan was active at Penn. He held advisory roles with several student organizations, including Sigma Chi and the women’s track and cross-country teams (for all of whom he cooked renowned waffle breakfasts), and served as parliamentarian of the University Council and on several other community-wide committees. In 1980, he served as chair of the Administrative Assembly, the precursor to today’s Penn Professional Staff Assembly, which represented monthly-paid staff members at Penn. Mr. Constan chaired the President’s Task Force on the Freshman Experience, which helped shape Penn’s New Student Orientation program. He was also a champion of accessibility, chairing the Executive Committee on University Accessibility for the Handicapped. From the 1970s to the 1990s, Mr. Constan wrote Pennsylvania, a series of popular “double-crostic” puzzles that appeared in the Penn Gazette. In 1987, he was named an Honorary Friar of Penn. 

Outside of Penn, Mr. Constan had board roles at Liberty Medical Transport and Optimum Funds and was a marketing representative at Crystal Sales & Marketing, Inc. In his leisure time, he was an avid squash player, rower, and horseback rider. 

Mr. Constan was pre-deceased by his brother, Samuel. He is survived by his sister-in-law, Phyllis Constan; his nephews, Andrew and Theodore (Alison); his niece, Katherine Constan Dandy; four grandnephews; and four grandnieces.