RALEIGH — Ronald Conrad Dilthey served as an adjunct professor at Campbell Law School for 35 years, teaching in the areas of workers’ compensation and civil litigation. Dilthey was renowned and widely respected for his work in advocacy and trial litigation. In April 2017, Campbell Law School named the Center of Advocacy Office Suite in his honor.
Dilthey of Raleigh died on March 26 at the age of 86. A New York native, Dilthey moved to North Carolina to attend Wake Forest University, where he graduated from in 1957. Dilthey served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve from 1958-68, achieving the rank of captain. He graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1960, and became a pillar within the legal profession. He began his legal career in 1960, when he joined the law firm of Teague, Johnson and Patterson in Raleigh as a trial attorney. Within this role, he cultivated his reputation, and gained the respect of his clients, his opponents, and the judges whom he appeared before.
Dilthey was widely recognized for his skills in Personal Injury Litigation, Product Liability Litigations and Professional Malpractice Defense, and he was included in Best Lawyers in America from the time that the book was first published in 1983, and in every subsequent issue. He was also included in Super Lawyers, determined by peer review, and he was selected as Top 100 North Carolina Super Lawyers by that publication. Business North Carolina named him a “Legal Elite” for the state of North Carolina in the area of litigation, and in 1988, Mr. Dilthey was nominated and elected a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. In 2001, Dilthey became an inductee of the Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania, Hall of Fame for Professional Achievement.
Dilthey was born June 5, 1935, and he dedicated his life to serving his community. He served within a number of North Carolina Bar Association. (NCBA) leadership roles from 1981-1998, including the Board of Governors and the Litigation Section, and he served two years as NCBA’s Vice President.
Dilthey was Of Counsel at Lewis Brisbois in Raleigh, and he was appointed by the Governor of North Carolina to serve as an industry representative on the North Carolina Brown Lung Study Commission. He was also a charter member of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys and a member of the Senior Lawyers Division and the Senior Survivors, in addition to being a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference.
A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, April 2, at 11 a.m. at Edenton Street United Methodist Church, 228 W. Edenton St., in downtown Raleigh. Services provided by Brown-Wynne, 300 St. Mary’s Street, Raleigh.
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Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law School has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 4,500 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2021, Campbell Law celebrated 45 years of graduating legal leaders and 12 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.