Professor Bloom to Retire

Longtime Albany Law School Professor Ira Bloom is set to retire in 2022.

Bloom, the Justice David Josiah Brewer Distinguished Professor of Law, began teaching at the law school in the Fall of 1978 and over the decades he became the go-to source for trusts and estate law and wisdom.

Bloom has taught thousands of students and has seen the practice of law change and adapt.
“It’s been very satisfying to have given students some foundation,” he said. “The thing I like about teaching is that it’s cooperative, not competitive. I enjoy sharing my knowledge and educating students.”

While he has had teaching stints at Loyola University College of Law and Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, Calif., and The Ohio State University College of Law, Albany Law has always been his home base.

“There’s lots of different opportunities. There are tradeoffs, you don’t make as much money teaching as you could in private practice, but I always found Albany to be a very pleasant place to teach. For me, it’s been a good lifestyle,” he said.

Bloom’s official last day is June 30, 2022 and he will teach his final class on December 2, 2021.
Bloom’s commitment to teaching is reflected in his national course books: FUNDAMENTALS OF TRUSTS AND ESTATES and TAXATION OF ES¬TATES, TRUSTS, AND GIFTS. As his final writing project, Bloom is preparing the 6th edition of the book. For almost 40 years he was the principal author of DRAFTING NEW YORK WILLS AND RELATED DOCUMENTS, a two-volume work designed for practitioners. Bloom also wrote numerous law review articles.

During his career, Bloom has been active at the state and national levels. He was a member of the Trusts and Estates Law Section of NYSBA for over 30 years, including as Chair of the Section and as Co-Reporter for the proposed New York Trust Code. He is a life member of the American Law Institute and was actively involved in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel for many years as an elected Academic Fellow.

Locally, Bloom has greatly enjoyed helping countless legal aid clients in need of wills and advance directives.

Among the faculty at the law school, there is a collective joy for Bloom to enjoy a new stage of life but a sense of loss of institutional knowledge. His commitment to teaching law never waivered and year after year, he brought his unique spirit to class—especially for Mardi Gras.

“Ira Bloom is a beloved and respected teacher who has inspired generations of lawyers. I remember being a student in his class, laughing at his costumes, and occasional use of the National Enquirer well,” said President and Dean Alicia Ouellette ’94.
“It was a much-welcomed relief from the challenge of his calls and exams. As a faculty colleague, he has been tremendously supportive and productive. His scholarly work, including a proposed new trust code, will have an impact for years to come. While we will miss him tremendously, I join the rest of the law school community in wishing him much joy and happiness in this next chapter.”

What’s next for Bloom? Family, sunshine, enjoying a new-found passion for golf and getting back into hobbies like drawing and playing the accordion.

“Right now, I think I will continue to split my time between Albany and Palm Springs, California,” he said. “I am looking forward to life in California for an even longer period of time and doing a lot of traveling. My wife and I are extremely close and enjoy visiting friends and family. We have a newborn granddaughter in Washington, D.C., and we are hopeful to spend a lot of time with her and our two teenage granddaughters in California."

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