Please enter a minimum of 2 characters to search.
Please enter a minimum of 2 characters to search.
Memorial Keepers(0)
They manage this memorial. Contact or join
Add a Keeper
Clarence Keith Wingate
May 12th, 1953 - September 18th, 2021
May 12th, 1953 - September 18th, 2021
was born on May 12, 1953, to the late Clarence L. Wingate and late Lily Mae Wingate in Darlington, South Carolina. Keith entered in holy matrimony and was united with his loving wife, Gloria Champion of 40 years on December 31, 1981. After retiring from UC Hastings College of the Law, Keith and Gloria made Santa Fe, New Mexico home.
Keith started teaching at UC Hastings in 1980 after working as an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP. He attended the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana for both his undergraduate and legal education. While at Illinois, he served on the Undergraduate Student Association Steering Committee, the Illinois Union Board, the University Concert and Entertainment Board, and as President of the Black Law Student Association. In 1980, he was honored as one of the first recipients of the University of Illinois Black Alumni Association "10" Outstanding Persons Award.
Keith was an outstanding educator and over the years taught Civil Procedure; Race, Racism, and American Law; Critical Race Theory; Reparations: Domestic and International; and Law and the Japanese American Internment. Known as a no-nonsense Civil Procedure professor, his students were often surprised to find that outside of the classroom, he was easy going and always with a smile on his face.
As the first African American professor to receive tenure at UC Hastings, Keith pushed the law school to offer more courses that examined race relations in the United States. Keith also served on the Faculty Executive Committee throughout his tenure at Hastings, representing the interests of his fellow colleagues. He co-authored several casebooks on Civil Procedure, including Federal Courts; Federalism and Separation of Powers; Cases and Materials on Civil Procedure; California Civil Procedure in a Nutshell; along with several law review articles examining how procedure is used in civil rights cases.
Prior to retiring from Hastings, Keith served as Associate Academic Dean for 5 years, overseeing all student affair departments. He was not only an able administrator, but he also moved the school to be more sensitive to the needs of all students. One of his direct reports described him as “one of the very best humans ever.”
Keith passed away at home surrounded by his family from a long battle with cancer. He will be missed and remembered fondly by all who knew him. He leaves behind to cherish his loving memory, his beloved wife, Gloria Wingate of Santa Fe, NM, his daughter, Brenda Champion of Santa Fe, NM, three sons – Marvin Champion, Terry (Shannon) of Medford, Oregon, and Oliver (Yola) Champion of China, two granddaughters – Avery Champion and Gloria Champion, one grandson - Anderson Champion and a host of family and friends.
Create an event page to coordinate a gathering in honor of Clarence
Tributes
Susan Bair Mccormick
Dear Gloria and Wingate Family, Keith was a big part of my life as he moved into a home just down the street from me when we were in Junior High School. He was in my class, and we began a habit of walking to school together daily with Judy Sirkis and sometimes with Sarah Bateman. We must have been quite a site in the 1960's, but we didn't think a thing of it. We were just friends and neighbors. Keith was incredibly brilliant and always great to talk to through whatever wind and weather we faced each day. Keith was very active in school activities and was our class president our senior year of high school. The last time I saw Keith was in the train station in Chicago in the middle of the night. My train from Minnesota was late, and my college roommate and her father who had driven into the city to pick me up were told that it had arrived on time. When I called her house, her mother told me to take the escalator to the street and hail a taxi. On my way up the two-story escalator, I saw Keith heading down the other side. He panicked when he saw me going up to the very dangerous street scene. He promptly leaped over the handrails to the "upside" of the escalator and told me that I could not go outside. He told me to wait inside until he could make arrangements for me to ride on the floor of a cab with two black women who were also headed to the South Side of Chicago. It would have been dangerous for me to be seen as a white person going through these neighborhoods. When the first two passengers were left at their destination, the driver told me to stay down as he turned his sign to read "Out of Service." He got me safely to my friend's house, but it might not have happened without Keith's help and quick thinking. I have always been grateful to him, and I certainly wish that I had known that you have been living in Santa Fe which is not far from my home of 38 years near the Four Corners in Colorado. As we all expected, Keith did have a very successful career. I am very happy that he also had a wonderful family. I am sorry for your loss and know that he is missed terribly. I hope that his grandchildren will always know that their grandfather was a generous and truly remarkable man.
Louise Francis
Dear Wingate Family, Keith was my Civil Procedure Professor in 1983 and hired me to be his discussion group leader the next year. His confidence in me during a tough first two years of law school was critical to my success. He helped me understand that I was skilled at procedure and that understanding propelled me throughout my legal career. I returned to UC Hastings in a staff role 20 years later - a student support role I was dedicated to and a tad over-qualified for. Although we had no contact after I graduated, he remembered me. More importantly, he treated me as a peer at a time I was getting discouraged by the stratified law school culture. Once again, his respect helped me get through a hard time. I am honored to have known him both as my professor and a colleague. I am also grateful for his being a role model while he was dean for how to motivate and support all students. His memory is a blessing to me. My sincere condolences.
Copyright © 2026 Keeper Memorials, All rights reserved.