NASHVILLE, Tenn. –Legislation memorializing Jonathan I. Charney, Vanderbilt University Law School professor and one of the world’s preeminent experts on international law, was signed into law by Gov. Phil Bredesen on May 27.
Charney, the former Lee S. and Charles A. Speir Chair in Law at Vanderbilt University Law School, was co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of International Law, the premier international law journal in the world. He died on Sept. 7, 2002, after a lengthy illness. He had been on the Law School faculty since 1972.
The memorializing legislation was co-sponsored by state Sens. Roy Herron and Douglas Henry, both Law School alumni. Herron received joint degrees in divinity and law in 1980, and Henry received his bachelor’s degree in 1949 and his law degree in 1951, all from Vanderbilt. Herron also is an adjunct faculty member at the Law School.
“Professor Charney was a very special professor,” Herron said. “Those who knew him well were very fond of him, and those who did not know him well respected him. For most of us in our first year of law school, anyone who seemed gentle was such a nice blessing, and Professor Charney was a gentle man. He was an extraordinarily accomplished and extraordinarily gracious human being, and it [sponsoring this legislation] seemed like something Senator Henry and I wanted to do.”
The legislation, Senate Joint Resolution 427, reads in part: “WHEREAS, it is fitting that the members of this General Assembly should salute those citizens who through their extraordinary efforts distinguished themselves as academic and
community leaders of whom we can all be proud; and WHEREAS, Jonathan I. Charney was one such estimable individual whose passing greatly saddened the members of this legislative body….BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING, that we honor the memory of Professor Jonathan I. Charney, reflecting fondly upon his manifold professional achievements, his impeccable character and his stalwart commitment to living the examined life with courage and conviction.”
Media contact: Susanne Loftis, 615-322-NEWS, susanne.loftis@vanderbilt.edu