Robert H. McKinney Professor of Law
Robert H. McKinney was born in Indianapolis in 1925. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy, where he received his bachelor’s degree, and received his JD from Indiana Law in 1952. Until his retirement in 1991, McKinney was a partner with Bose, McKinney & Evans in Indianapolis. He was also chairman and CEO of First Indiana Corporation, the parent company of; First Indiana Bank (now BMO Harris Bank), and chairman and CEO of The Somerset Group, Inc., a diversified manufacturing and investment company.
Among many other activities, McKinney was appointed by President Carter as chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. McKinney led the deregulation of the thrift industry in the 1970s and positioned it for growth and stability.
McKinney is also an active civic leader, serving on the Indiana University Board of Trustees from 1989-1998 and as its president from 1993-94. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Indiana University Foundation.
In response to his many years of service to higher education in Indiana, McKinney received LLD degrees from Marian University in 1976 and from Butler University in 1981. He is a member of the Law School's Academy of Law Alumni Fellows.
The Robert H. McKinney Professorship was established in 1999, and the Indiana University School of Law — Indianapolis was renamed in his honor in 2011. McKinney passed away in September 2024 at the age of 98.
- Valena Beety, Robert H. McKinney Professor of Law