William H. Neukom, a longtime member of the CASBS board of directors and renowned corporate lawyer, baseball executive, and philanthropist, died on July 14, 2025. He was 83 years old.
Neukom joined CASBS’s board of directors in January 2012 and concluded his service in August 2021. At his final board meeting, in May 2021, a unanimous vote conferred upon him the title of board member emeritus, one of only three board members in CASBS history to enjoy such status.
CASBS is forever grateful for Bill Neukom’s service and generosity. In 2014, he endowed the Center’s library reading room as the Ruth H. and John G. Neukom Reading Room in honor of his parents. The gift was the first as part of CASBS’s 60th anniversary effort. In 2017, he and his wife, Sally, endowed the Sally and Bill Neukom Contemplative Garden, perhaps the Center’s most beautiful space. The gift was made as part of the campaign that resulted in the erection of a new building on the CASBS campus, the first since the Center opened in 1954. The building was completed and dedicated in 2023.
Notably, Neukom’s first affiliation with the Center, years before his board service, was consequential in launching a project that embraces his passion and advocacy for the rule of law worldwide. Specifically, an early meeting of the World Justice Project, which he founded in 2006 and for which he served as CEO until his death, was convened by Neukom and political scientist Margaret Levi (CASBS’s director from 2014-22) at CASBS in July 2007. Early discussions about how to structure the Project’s now-influential Rule of Law Index took place here. The legacy of this meeting endures today in the World Justice Project, a multinational and multi-disciplinary nonprofit that works to further justice, stimulate action to advance and measure the rule of law, and promote the development of communities of opportunity and equity worldwide.
“Bill Neukom’s intellectual curiosity, ethos of service to others, and commitment to justice was grounded in a deep sense of integrity, ethics, and humility,” said Margaret Levi, former CASBS director, professor emerita of political science, and senior fellow at Stanford’s Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. “I so valued Bill as a good friend and collaborator for decades and will miss him dearly. Those among us who worked shoulder to shoulder with Bill must ensure that his legacy of accomplishment continues to inspire new collaborations in service of more just societies in decades yet to come."
Beyond CASBS
Nearby in the Bay Area, Neukom was known for serving as the managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants ownership group, including when the Giants won the World Series in 2010, the team’s first championship since moving to California in 1958. He also enjoyed deep ties to Stanford University’s law school, where he earned his law degree in 1967 and later endowed two professorships, established the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law, and made the lead gift for the school’s Neukom Building, which opened in 2011.
Extending beyond the Bay Area, Neukom famously served as Microsoft’s principal legal counsel for nearly a quarter century, becoming known in the public consciousness during high-profile legal cases defending the company against antitrust and intellectual property suits. Eventually, he became Microsoft’s Executive Vice President, managing the company’s legal and governmental affairs as well as philanthropic activities until he left in 2002.
Neukom also served as president of the American Bar Association in 2007-08 and received the ABA Medal, the organization’s highest award, in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the legal profession.
In 1995, Neukom and his children founded the Neukom Family Foundation, dedicated to funding education, the environment, health, human services, and justice. In its obituary, published in The Seattle Times, the Neukom family wrote:
To honor Bill’s legacy, the Neukom family invites you to donate – whether your time, skills or resources – to any cause which you believe will support the betterment of our shared society. To the extent such a donation seeks to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, Bill would applaud that.
Read more about the life and career of William H. Neukom
“William H. Neukom (Bill)” (family obituary, The Seattle Times)
“William H. Neukom, Microsoft Lawyer Who Led Antitrust Fight, Dies at 83” (The New York Times)
“Former Giants Managing General Partner, Longtime Lead Microsoft Attorney Bill Neukom Dies at 83” (Associated Press)
“In Memory of William H. Neukom” (World Justice Project)
“ABA Mourns the Death of Former President William H. “Bill” Neukom” (American Bar Association)
“William Neukom, Former ABA President with Influence ‘from boardrooms to ballparks to courtroom,’ Dies at 83” (ABA Journal)
“Remembering William H. ‘Bill’ Neukom” (Stanford Law School)