LAW COMMUNITY MOURNS DEATH OF HON. SYLVIA H. RAMBO
December 2024 — The Penn State Dickinson Law community is saddened to learn of the death of Hon. Sylvia H. Rambo ‘62. “We are grateful for Judge Rambo’s life of service and dedication. She faithfully served our Commonwealth, our county, and our community. We are particularly grateful for her many years of service and dedication to Penn State Dickinson Law,” said Danielle M. Conway, Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law at Penn State Dickinson Law. “We will miss her wisdom and guiding hand.”
Judge Rambo loyally served on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania for more than four decades. Her résumé reflected a lifetime of “firsts” — the first woman to hold the office of chief public defender of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, the first woman judge on the Court of Commons Pleas of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and the first woman judge to serve as chief of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. In 2022, the new federal courthouse in Harrisburg was named in her honor, the first in Pennsylvania to be named after a woman.
Judge Rambo provided many forms of support to Dickinson Law including serving as an adjunct professor and serving on the board of governors of the independent Dickinson School of Law. Following the merger with Penn State, she served on the law school’s board of counselors, the leadership council advisory board, and the Dickinson Law Association. Judge Rambo received numerous awards and accolades in her many years of service. Perhaps most fitting of her legacy, in 1993, the Women’s Law Caucus at Dickinson Law honored Judge Rambo as the first recipient of the Sylvia H. Rambo Award, paying tribute to her contributions as a lawyer and jurist and to her interest in promoting the role of women in the law. In the decades since, more than 20 alumnae, lawyers, and jurists have visited Dickinson Law to accept the Sylvia H. Rambo Award honor and share their experience, advice, and perspective with the Law School community.
A memorial service for Hon. Sylvia H. Rambo ‘62 will be on Friday, January 10, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, and livestreamed via the church’s website. The post-funeral reception will be held at Penn State Dickinson Law, 150 South College Street, Carlisle, PA 17013, immediately following the service. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Judge Rambo’s family has asked that memorial contributions be made to the Rambo Douglas Scholarship at Penn State Dickinson Law. Contributions can be made at raise.psu.edu/DickinsonLaw, or mailed to the law school.