Paul Bender

Paul Bender was born on May 31st, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York to Edward and Betty Okun Bender and died on September 11th, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. He has left us after a long and brilliant career in the law and a wonderful family life with his wife and children.

Paul grew up in Brooklyn, attending James Madison High School where he was a classmate of the future Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He matriculated at Harvard college, graduating cum laude with a bachelor degree in Physics in 1954 and continuing at Harvard Law School, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1957. It was at Harvard that he met his future wife, Margaret Thomas whom he married in 1955. They were married for 70 wonderful years until her recent death. They had two sons, John Felix in 1965 and Matthew Learned in 1967.

After graduating from Harvard, Paul worked as a law clerk for Judge Learned Hand of the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit from 1958-59 and later as law clerk for Justice Felix Frankfurter of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1959-60.

Paul then went to work at the University of Pennsylvania; first as assistant then associate professor from 1960-66 then joining the faculty as full professor in 1966 where he spent 24 years until 1984. In 1984, Paul became Dean of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University where he was instrumental in establishing an Indian Law program and taught classes in constitutional law, indian law, individual rights and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Paul worked for the Solicitor General of the United States, first in 1965-66 as assistant to the Solicitor General, Archibald Cox and then from 1993-1997 as Principal Deputy Solicitor General under Drew Days during the Clinton Administration. There, he represented the United States in cases involving: civil rights, race and sex discrimination, freedom of speech and religion and tort claims against the federal government.

Paul was very involved in Arizona’s Native American community, serving as a member of the Hopi Court of Appeals, Chief Justice at the Fort McDowell Nation Supreme Court, and on the San Carlos Apache Court of Appeals. He facilitated a national dialogue on Tribal-museum relations that led to NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act signed into law by President George Bush in 1990. Paul was also an avid supporter of the Native American art community and was a collector of Native art.

Professor Bender was a frequent contributor to the KAET program, “Horizon” and was often interviewed on local radio and television about legal issues, primarily those concerning the U.S. Supreme Court although also covering a broad range of issues both local and national.

Paul was a pianist for most of his life and only pursued other things as a career after realizing that a career as a concert pianist was not in the cards. Among his favorites to play were Bach, Preludes and Fugues and Chopin Nocturnes. He also enjoyed the occasional Joplin Rag. It was while a rehearsal pianist for a Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta that he met his future wife who was in the chorus and later became a member of the Law School Light Opera Company at the University of Pennsylvania. In his younger days, he played the five-string banjo and sang union and folk songs. He was an avid tennis and squash player as well, teaching both his children the games. The Bender family always had a menagerie as Paul and his family were devoted animal lovers.

Donations in his honor may be made to the Arizona Humane Society to which he was a donor or to KAET, KJZZ or other local public media organizations. He is survived by his son, Matthew.