Clyde Martz Passes

May 24, 2010

On May 18, Clyde O. Martz, a father of natural resource law in this country, passed away in New Mexico at the age of 89. He was an exemplary and memorable teacher, mentor, counselor, and advocate for clients, attorneys, and students throughout his long career.

Memorial contribution can be made in Clyde’s honor to the institution he loved: The University of Colorado Law School CLYDE MARTZ ENDOWMENT FOR THE NATURAL RESOURCES LAW CENTER (click on the link to give online). Please read the Overview on Martz and the endowment.

Clyde was retired senior of counsel in Davis Graham & Stubbs’ natural resources department. He joined the firm in 1962 after serving 15 years as a Colorado Law School professor of natural resources law. He was one of the founders of the Natural Resources Law Center, and for whom the center named its Martz Annual Summer Conference. He became a founder of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and was a guest professor at several other law schools.

His legacy at DGS continues through the attorneys he taught while a professor and worked with while a partner in our firm. The roots of our natural resources practice reach down to Clyde and the many DGS professionals and alumni who were influenced by his teaching.

Clyde had an extraordinarily distinguished career that included many years of public service. He served as Assistant Attorney General of the Lands and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (1967-69), Solicitor of the Department of the Interior (1980-81), mining law consultant to the President's Materials Policy Commission (1951), consultant to the Public Land Law Review Commission (1968-69), and Colorado Special Assistant Attorney General (1971-75).

In 1951, he published the first natural resources law casebook, Cases and Materials on the Law of Natural Resources, combining the previously discrete subjects of water law, mining law, and oil and gas law.

Clyde moved to New Mexico several years ago to be closer to his children, who were with him when he died.