Distinguished Alumnus and Commencement Speaker, Homer Moyer ‘60 Celebrates The Class of 2023
The Class of 2023 graduation ceremony was held on May 20, 2023, in the Admiral Farragut Academy Garden Theater. Ashley Patterson Beaty ‘02, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, introduced the guest speaker and distinguished alumnus, Homer Moyer ‘60.
“Distinguished graduates and our entire Farragut community, I am honored to introduce our 2023 commencement speaker.
Homer Moyer, Jr., graduated from Admiral Farragut Academy in 1960 and resides in Washington, D.C., with his wife Beret. Homer is one of Farragut’s most illustrious alumni and is regarded as one of the top rule of law lawyers globally. He founded and pioneered a law practice in anti-corruption law and other laws regulating international trade and business. A political appointee in both Republican and Democratic administrations, he served as Deputy General Counsel, Counsellor to the Secretary and General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Homer has litigated cases before all levels of U.S. courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and a variety of international tribunals.
After graduating from Farragut, Homer attended Emory University then Yale Law School, and served in the U.S. Navy as a lawyer stationed at JAG headquarters in Washington, DC, in the Military Justice Division. While in the Navy, he had a collateral duty as a White House Military Social Aide, receiving the Presidential Service Badge for his service under Presidents Nixon and Johnson. Following the Navy, Homer spent 18 months with the Public Law Education Institute, where, as its primary author, he wrote Justice and the Military, an opus casebook on military law, the first such written since 1895.
Homer has received numerous professional honors but is most celebrated for his outstanding public service leading pro bono rule of law initiatives for 30 plus years. He co-founded the Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI), the largest pro bono project the American Bar Association has ever undertaken. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, CEELI organized thousands of U.S. lawyers to provide technical legal assistance to 25 countries that became independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Since then, a rule of law institute in Prague that Homer founded has trained more than 10,000 judges and lawyers from 50 countries, with a mission to protect fundamental rights, individual liberties, and to promote transparent and accountable governments.
Homer Moyer, Esq. Class of 1960 Commencement Speaker for the Class of 2023
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright regarded this effort as the “most effective voluntary legal assistance initiative in history”, and the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor described Homer Moyer as his generation’s “pioneer in rule of law reform and its greatest proponent.”
Homer is one of Farragut’s lifelong thinkers and indelible public servants, and we are grateful to have him join on this celebratory 90th year since our founding in Toms River, New Jersey. His parents, Homer Moyer and Millie Moyer, were pillars of the Farragut community. His father helped lead the opening of this campus in 1945, served as its Chief Executive Officer, and was instrumental in the formative years of Farragut South. His mother served as Social Hostess for 35 years teaching hundreds of Farragut graduates how to dance and mind their manners. The Moyer family is intrinsic to our history, and its vibrant future.
I am honored to present the Distinguished Alumni Award to Homer Moyer, Class of 1960 on behalf of Admiral Farragut Academy. Homer, we welcome you to the stage and most importantly, we welcome you back home.”
