In February of 1986, Law Professor Jon Van Dyke and his wife, Honolulu attorney Sherry Broder, watched as Governor George Ariyoshi warmly greeted Philippine Dictator Ferdinand Marcos to Hawaii with welcome arms after decades of torture, murder, and numerous other human rights abuses.
Outraged that Ariyoshi extended a personal invitation for Marcos to stay in Hawaii, Sherry exclaimed "That's not right, can we sue him?!" Jon replied, "Yeah! Let's sue him!"
While Sherry and Jon were able to win nearly $2 billion dollars in a class action suit for the 10,000 Marcos victims in 1992, it would not be until February of this year that the victims would even have the possibility of receiving any money from the Marcos estate as the case became enveloped in an endless battle of appeals and counter appeals. For twenty-five years the couple fought for the memory, honor, and dignity of the Philippine people
This past Tuesday, November 29, 2011, Professor Jon Van Dyke passed away in his sleep while in Australia. He was there to give the keynote address for the Law of the Sea Institute, an organization which he helped to create. Not only did Professor Van Dyke help champion the cause of the Philippine people, he was also an advocate for Native Hawaiian rights, an eminent authority on U.S. Constitutional Law, International Law, and the Law of the Sea.
A prolific writer, he has written six books: North Vietnam's Strategy for Survival (1972), Jury Selection Procedures: Our Uncertain Commitment to Representative Panels (1977), Sharing the Resources of the South China Sea (co-author, 1997), Who Owns the Crown Lands of Hawai`i? (2008) (which was picked as one of the six most memorable books of 2008 by the Honolulu Advertiser), International Law and Litigation in the U.S. (co-author, 3rd ed. 2009), and Checklists for Searches and Seizures in Public Schools (co-author, updated annually).
In addition to being a scholar and advocate for the powerless, he worked to create curriculum so the high school youth of Hawaii may better understand their civil rights and liberties. However, this is just a fraction of the work that Professor Van Dyke was able to accomplish in his short time with us all. As a Pilipino American, I am immensely grateful for the work he has done on the behalf of the Philippine people. As a student, I am honored to have been able to have taken his course in Constitutional Law.
The William S. Richardson School of Lawhas created a page in tribute for Professor Jon Van Dyke. I hope all of us in the Pilipina/o American community can offer thanks for his work and condolences to the Van Dyke family for their loss.
*Picture from The William S. Richardson School of Law
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