John Edward Cribbet (February 21, 1918 – May 23, 2009) was a well-known legal scholar, dean of the University of Illinois College of Law, and chancellor of the University of Illinois.^[1][2]

Cribbet was born in Findlay, Illinois, just outside Decatur.^[1] His mother raised him after his father died from the Spanish flu.^[1] Cribbet received his undergraduate degree from Illinois Wesleyan University.^[1] There, he met his wife Betty Smith.^[1] After graduation, Cribbet joined the Army for World War II. He served as an aide-de-camp for Lt. Gen. Troy H. Middleton on the European front.^[1] His service produced a number of medals and stories, which he would later relate in his popular law lectures.^[1]

Cribbet then decided to attend the University of Illinois College of Law where he received his J.D. degree in 1947.^[1][3] He spent a few months in law practice in Bloomington, Illinois, at the law firm of Costigan, Wollrab, and Yoder before he was invited back to the University of Illinois to teach law.^[1][3] As a professor, he held visiting positions at the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Texas School of Law.^[3] In 1967 he was appointed as dean of the law school, a position he held until 1979 when he was asked to serve as chancellor of the campus.^[1][4]

Cribbet was survived by his wife Betty; his two daughters, Pamela Steward and Carol Cribbet-Bell; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.^[1]

Cribbet was named acting chancellor on July 1, 1979, after William P. Gerberding left the position for the presidency of the University of Washington.^[4] The University of Illinois Board of Trustees formally named Cribbet as chancellor in December of that year.^[4] At the time of Cribbet's appointment University President Stanley O. Ikenberry had positive words for the new Chancellor. He stated Chancellor Cribbet "[would] bring to the position of chancellor extensive experience as an academic leader, what [he had] found to be an extraordinary soundness of judgment, and an absolutely superb reputation in his profession."^[4] For his part, the new chancellor told the press that he would strive to "strengthen the voice" of students and faculty in campus governance.^[4]

• Property: Cases and Materials (with Corwin W. Johnson, Roger W. Findley, Ernest E. Smith, and John S. Dzienkowski) a seminal textbook now in its ninth edition.^[1]
• Principles of the Law of Property (with Corwin W. Johnson) a popular textbook that spawned three editions.
• Concepts in Transition: The Search for a New Definition of Property, 1986 University of Illinois Law Review 1.
• Changing Concepts in the Law of Land Use, 50 Iowa Law Review 245 (1964).
• Condominium: Home Ownership for Megalopolis?, 61 Michigan Law Review 1207 (1963).
• Conveyancing Reform, 35 N.Y.U. Law Review 1291 (1960).