Calamaras

James L. Calamaras Professor of Law

Louis B. Calamaras established the James Louis Calamaras Professorship in 1994 in memory of his son, James Calamaras, who graduated from Indiana Law in 1967.

Shortly after James started law school, he was diagnosed with cancer. Although there were days when he was too ill to attend classes, James was determined to finish law school and become a lawyer. His positive attitude, cheerful personality, and sharp sense of humor made him popular with his classmates and his professors. James graduated in May of 1967 and, although his health was failing rapidly, took the Indiana bar examination in July of that year. James succumbed to cancer on September 2, 1967. Four days after his death, his family was notified by the Supreme Court of Indiana that he had passed the bar examination.

In an unprecedented action, the Indiana Supreme Court issued a special order acknowledging that James Calamaras had successfully passed the Indiana bar examination and extended the Court’s sympathy to the Calamaras Family.

Louis Calamaras was born in Peabody, Massachusetts, but spent part of his youth in Michigan City, Indiana. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his law degree from Georgetown University Law School. Calamaras specialized in labor and industrial relations. His career took him to Washington, D.C., where he held positions in the U.S. Department of Labor. After a decade in Washington, he returned to Chicago to start his own practice in labor law and later was asked to head the National Electronic Distributors Association (NEDA) during the television industry’s boom years. Louis Calamaras was very active in community affairs during the height of his career. He is now retired and splits his time between his homes in suburban Chicago and Florida.