Dennis Hull Blumer

10/23/1940 – 06/18/2025

Dennis Blumer was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio by Mary Eleanor Hull Blumer and Robert Howard Blumer. He died in Falls Church, Virginia of congestive heart failure after a rich and full life. He leaves behind a loving family consisting of his wife of 60 years, Alice “Tansy” Howard Blumer, and two daughters, Mackenzie Yates and Paige Blumer.

A product of his family’s life and Dayton’s Fairview High School, he matriculated to Yale and found residence in Farnam with Louis Echols and Paul Torop. It turned out the three of them were Eagle Scouts, which, according to Paul, set them to wondering if being Eagle Scouts was the main reason they were admitted and placed as roommates. They moved, with others of their floor, as a block to Calhoun, where Dennis and Louis stayed as roommates and were joined by a member of that block, Tony Bullard.

He was awarded a scholarship to Yale University by the Mead Corporation, a scholarship he held for four years. A history major, Dennis was active in the Political Union; the Classics Club, and the Episcopal Church at Yale, where he served as a Vestryman and Service heir. For Calhoun he was a Sophomore counselor and member of the swimming team, while he fenced for Yale where Dennis earned both his Freshman numerals and Varsity “Y.” While he thought he would be entering medicine for his life’s employment, he ended up enrolling at Yale Law School.

Dennis and Tansy met at a Smith College mixer where she was completing her B.A. The two married on September 12, 1965 and Dennis landed his first job at Ohio’s Central State University, where he served as Assistant to the Acting President. Dennis’ time at Yale was pivotal in setting the course of his career. He found his passion in institutions of higher learning. He spent the rest of his career using his law degree to support the missions of those institutions, advocating for them in a vast array of legal matters, innovating new ways for them to thrive and building frameworks to help them better serve their students and communities. He never lost sight of how Yale changed the course of his life and dedicated himself to the mission and purpose of higher learning.

That preceding summary from Dennis’s official obituary provides a nice juxtaposition to Dennis’ opening comments in Time and Change, our 40th “yearbook,” to wit: “much of what I thought important as a Yale undergraduate, I have discarded.” He goes on: “I value the life of the mind a bit less. I have found it most useful when employing it to access and grade issues of character and ethics — the hard issues. I no longer am convinced that it is a virtue in itself.”

In 1966, Dennis left Ohio to serve first as Assistant to the President at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and then in 1971, to the University of Maryland where his initial title was Assistant to the Chancellor. In both of these roles, Dennis often served as a negotiator between the institution and student protestors who were seeking support from the school during a period of antiwar violence and unrest. At the University of Maryland, He was especially proud of his work in this time, developing improved strategies for clarifying and handling NCAA violations, benefiting the student athletes of the institution he served.

Dennis ended his career in higher education as Vice President and General Counsel of the George Washington University where he led GWU’s first Office of the General Counsel, before moving to private practice to lead the Higher Education Group at ArentFox Schiff. Dennis gave his time on the boards of both Beauvoir School in Washington, D.C. and Century Bank.
Dennis is remembered by his former colleagues for his quick thinking, his generous nature, and his ready mentorship. These qualities found their way into all aspects of his life and he will long be remembered by those who loved him as always willing to give of his time and talents to help another and for his uncanny ability to find a way forward in the thorniest of situations.

In addition to his immediate family, Dennis is survived by his sister Barbara Stockstill of Roanoke, Virginia.

— John D. Hatch III