Sovern, Michael Ira, 1931–2020, American lawyer and educator, president of Columbia Univ. (1980–93), b. New York City. He graduated from the Columbia Univ. Law School in 1955 and after 1957 he was on its faculty. Dean of the law school from 1970 to 1979 and provost from 1979 to 1980, he was president of Columbia from 1980 until his resignation in 1993. He oversaw the expansion of the university's endowment and the admission of women to Columbia College. He continued to serve on the law faculty at Columbia until his death.
See his autobiography (2014).
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