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Brigadier General
Marcos E. Kinevan
Permanent Professor 1967–1988
B.S., United States Military Academy
J.D., University of California
Mark Kinevan, the Academy’s 21st Permanent Professor, was born in Los Angeles in 1924. He enlisted in the Army in 1943, but was soon selected for the United States Military Academy. After a preparatory year at Amherst College, he joined the West Point Class of 1947. Upon graduation, he transferred to the new US Air Force and served a year as Assistant Legal Officer at March AFB, CA, before enrolling in the University of California Law School (Berkeley), where he graduated in 1951. His first duty as a lawyer was at Hamilton AFB, CA, as Assistant Legal Claims Officer. In 1952 he was sent to Korea, where he became the Wing Legal Officer, 17th Bomb Wing. In 1953, he became the Base Staff Judge Advocate at McChord AFB, WA. Then in 1956 he was assigned to HQ US Air Force, the Pentagon, as Appellate Defense Counsel and later Judge, US Air Force Court of Military Review, where he published several significant legal opinions. He came to the Academy in 1960, both on the Department of Law faculty and as Assistant Staff Judge Advocate. In 1965 he was reassigned to HQ Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB, HI, as Deputy Staff Judge Advocate. He was admitted to practice before a number of prestigious courts, including the US Supreme Court. In 1967 he was recalled to the Academy and appointed Permanent Professor. He served as Professor and Head, Department of Law, for 21 years, until his promotion to brigadier general and retirement in 1988. During that extended period, he also saw added duties as the Command Staff Judge Advocate and as Head of the Department of Economics, Geography and Management. Mark Kinevan made an enormous impact on the Law Department, growing the curriculum from an elementary business law concept to a mature curriculum relevant to problems future Air Force officers might face. He developed faculty expertise in laws of air and space employment, problems of command, and armed conflict. He established a vigorous research program to produce suitable texts and classroom materials. He personally wrote the text Personal Estate Planning and was co-author of the two-volume An Introduction to Law. Moreover, he provided faculty expertise to advise major commands on these subjects and conduct Personal Estate Planning workshops at Air Force bases throughout the country. Mark Kinevan was an ardent supporter of Falcon athletics; he served as the Officer Representative for the Falcon football team for 21 years.
A lifelong student of western history, Mark pursued his passion following his retirement. His book, Frontier Cavalryman: Lt. John Bigelow with the Buffalo Soldiers in Texas (1997), detailed Army life on the western frontier. Mark Kinevan died in 2008 and is buried in the Air Force Academy Cemetery.