Dr Richard John Sutton (23 September 1938 – 17 April 2009) was a New Zealand legal academic and chess player. He was twice the dean of the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

of the University of Otago and was the New Zealand national chess champion in 1962–63 and 1970–72. Sutton was born in London, England. He earned BA and LLM degrees from Auckland University and an LLM from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

. He was employed at the University of Auckland Law School and in 1980 became a full professor at the

of the University of Otago in Dunedin. At Otago, he served on two occasions as dean of the faculty. He became an

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professor in 2005. Sutton became the New Zealand national chess champion in 1962. The final game against

Ortvin Sarapu Ortvin Sarapu (born Ortvin Sarapuu; 22 January 1924 – 13 April 1999), known in New Zealand as "Mr Chess", was an Estonian-born chess player who emigrated to New Zealand and won or shared the New Zealand Chess Championship 20 times from 1 ...

ended in a draw, so Sutton and Sarapu were declared co-champions. In 1970 and 1971, Sutton won the New Zealand championship outright. Sutton competed for New Zealand in the 1972 Chess Olympiad in Yugoslavia and in 1975 lost to Jørn Sloth in the final of the world championship of

correspondence chess Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, traditionally through the postal system. Today it is usually played through a correspondence chess server, a public internet chess forum, or email. Less common ...

. Sutton died of cancer in Dunedin.

References

Sources

*"Legal scholar dies", ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a c ...

'', 2009-04-20
Richard Sutton 1938–2009
''

'' chess column, by Quentin Johnson, 5 May 2009.

External links

Richard John Sutton at chessgames.com
University of Otago {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Richard John 1938 births 2009 deaths Deaths from cancer in New Zealand English emigrants to New Zealand Harvard Law School alumni Law school deans New Zealand legal scholars New Zealand chess players Lawyers from Dunedin University of Auckland alumni Academic staff of the University of Auckland Academic staff of the University of Otago 20th-century chess players Sportspeople from Dunedin