Remembering Ed O’Brien (1945-2015)

The global Street Law family is mourning the loss of its co-founder and good friend, Ed O’Brien, who passed away on July 2. Ed had a tireless passion for providing empowering education about law, democracy, and human rights to students of all ages around the globe. He is greatly missed.

Since the news of Ed’s death, we’ve received numerous messages about the global impact of Ed and his work through Street Law. We’ve shared some of these tributes and photos below. If you’d like to share a message or photo about Ed, please send them to [email protected].

Photos

Tributes from around the world

From Prof. David McQuoid-Mason and Fiona Kirkwood

Ed, wherever you are – Sawubona – (We greet you), as we say in South Africa.

No doubt you are already planning how to use interactive teaching methods to introduce Street Law to your new colleagues!

It is a great honour and a privilege for us to celebrate your life with your friends and relatives present here today. We are sorry that we cannot be here in person, as are your other colleagues and friends around the world.

May, we know that this is an unbearably challenging time for you, but we are confident that you will draw comfort from, and celebrate, the fact that during the short period you and Ed were together you both experienced great happiness. We saw this first hand in New York last November.

John and Saba, Beth and Marlon, Mikey, Mary and your growing families, although feeling bereft, you can celebrate the fact that you were privileged to have a very special father – and grandfather – who loved you all unreservedly.

Anne, Peggy, Margaret and Sarah you too can celebrate having experienced Ed’s special caring, loving and sensitive qualities.

Lee, Judy, Bebs, Mary and the rest of the Street Law family, we are sure that you celebrate that Ed’s legacy lives on in Street Law Inc. It also lives on in the many Street Law programs that have sprung up around the world with which you have been associated.

We have known Ed for 31 years after David first met him at the Street Law (then NICEL) offices in Washington DC in 1984. David invited him to South Africa the next year to help start a Street Law program here. He arrived on the day the Apartheid authorities declared a State of Emergency.

David and Ed ran the very first Street Law workshop in South Africa in Durban in August 1985, and started the first South African university Street Law program at the then University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal) in 1986. The program later spread to all the universities in South Africa.

David and Ed then both helped, (with Ed’s Street Law Inc. colleagues who are present here today), to spread the Street Law message around the world, beginning with 16 Eastern European countries. The rest is history and Street Law is now in over 45 countries.

We will honour Ed next year by holding the Ed O’Brien International Street Law Best Practices Conference in Durban from 1-3 April 2016 which we know will be attended by many of his colleagues and friends.

Ed was a great inspiration for many people – not least David. Without him David would never have discovered the Street Law program and engaged in his world-wide travels to promote legal literacy to poor and marginalised people – occasionally with Ed and his colleagues in tow.

Ed was a great advocate of social justice in the human rights and democracy education programs that were developed in South Africa. He was also a great proponent of meaningful, interactive legal education and the University of Natal awarded him an Honorary Doctorate for his world-wide contribution to social justice and legal education in this regard.

Ed had a great sense of humour and his laughter was infectious. He was always ready to accept a new challenge or engage in a new adventure – whether it meant sleeping in a tent, a hut or a five star hotel – although in later years he preferred the latter.

Ed loved Safaris and he went with us to game parks in South Africa and Botswana, and with David to some game and nature reserves in Tanzania, India and Australia. We will commemorate this next year by taking some of the delegates on the pre-Conference Ed O’Brien Memorial Safari to the Umfolozi Game Reserve – which he always loved – from 29-31 March 2016.

We both enjoyed several other trips with him to different parts of the United States and interesting countries, such as Russia, Hungary and Hong Kong. Ed and David also spent time together with the Street Law teams in Central and Eastern Europe.

Ed was also an incurable foodie with Epicurean tastes which we sometimes tested to the extreme on camping trips by conning him into believing that he was eating traditional South African barbeque delicacies like grilled unpeeled whole oranges and bananas!

In many ways Ed and David were like ‘soul brothers’ who always fed off each other’s zest for life and adventures in new environments when spreading the Street Law gospel.

Ed, we will miss your delightful chuckles whenever you found something amusing: Your laughter and fond memories will always be with us.

We shall think of you every time we, or a colleague, open a Street Law book somewhere in the world. You were an inspiration to us all!

Hamba Gashle (Go well) dear friend – until we meet again.

• David McQuoid-Mason and Fiona Kirkwood

From Margaret E. Fisher

I met Ed in 1968 when he spent time on my college campus, but began working with him in 1977 at Street Law (National Street Law Institute). Together he and I taught inmates in the DC prisons, then wrote a book on practical law for corrections officers in jails and prisons. We traveled the country to a variety of prisons and met an incredible wide range of people. Ed was always the one who knew where the best restaurants were and where the best drinks were to be had, without any help from Yelp. He loved life and it was contagious. Anyone who knew Ed, knew his laugh and his wit. He also had a nose for people who were genuine and cared about making a difference in the world.

It was Ed O’Brien in 1985 who asked me if I’d like to go to Lesotho in 1986 to implement Street Law there. This was an incredible experience for me, and led me to connecting with David (and Fiona) and then again in 2012 to meet with many of you. Even now, Ed and I thought we’d be making a presentation on the first amendment and technology in October 2015.

It’s so hard to believe he has passed. A great man has moved into the realm of legend.

Rest in peace.

• Margaret E. Fisher
  Distinguished Practitioner in Residence Seattle University School of Law

From Lee Arbetman

I met Ed in the fall of 1974 as I began my second year of law school. Street Law had been piloted in two DC high schools during the 1972-73 school year and in eight high schools during 1973-74. In the fall of 1974 Street Law would expand to all 16 comprehensive District of Columbia high schools.

Before attending law school I had been a high school social studies (and math) teacher and had also gone to graduate school in social studies education. The first year of law school had been pretty disappointing; compared to being a classroom teacher I felt sort of useless as a law student. Street Law immediately changed all that. Ed (and Professor Jason Newman, Street Law’s other co-founder) made the law school experience meaningful through the Street Law clinical teaching activity. Street Law, and partnering with Ed and Jason, also turned into a career.

Ed’s commitment to civic engagement and social justice moved the (then) brand new Street Law organization into the nation’s schools and for a period of time into prison programming as well. The most singularly impressive expression of Ed’s vision, however, was his instinct that Street Law could fit into rule of law, human rights, and development programming in countries transitioning toward democracy. Ed brought Street Law with him to every continent. Along that road he met Desmond Tutu, George Soros, and literally thousands of educators and lawyers who embraced Street Law’s learning democracy by doing democracy approach. Leaders of the Street Law programs that Ed helped start in other countries subsequently followed Ed’s approach and shared their successes with colleagues in other countries. Seeds that Ed planted have grown into thriving programs in more than 40 countries. We are all better for having worked with him.

• Lee Arbetman
  Executive Director
  Street Law, Inc.

From Doug Colbert

I met Eddie a relatively short time ago in the summer of 2012 when we worked together at Bruce and Wendy’s outstanding BABSEA CLE clinical education and street law work that they have doing in southeast asia countries for the past 15 years. It was our pleasure to watch Eddie’s star shining as he spoke to the Chiang Mai and Thai law students throughout the country, and again at the law school in Can Tho, Vietnam where he, Lisa Bliss, Bruce, Wendy and the Vietnamese faculty taught all of us present about interactive teaching. Eddie’s life touched and inspired all of us to keep doing the important work of preparing this generation of law students to devote themselves to people’s justice.

• Doug Colbert

From Nirmal Upreti

My heartfelt condolences. May the departed soul get peace and may the family members get courage and passion to face this sad situation.

Departure of Ed is a big loss in the sector of justice education and legal education.

• Nirmal Upreti
  Nepal

From Prof. Jobst Bodenstein

As a South African, I acknowledge the tremendous impact that Ed had on introducing democracy and human rights programmes. As David has said, this happened at a most crucial time of this country and its citizens entered the new phase. These programmes inspired many lawyers, law students and members from NGO’s, civics, paralegal advice offices and trade unions. On a personal note, these programmes and the training I received from Ed (and David) were invaluable in shaping my own legal activism.

• Prof. Jobst Bodenstein
  Associate Professor of the Faculty of Law
  Rhodes University Law Clinic

From Deborah Foster

Thank you, Ed, for your kindness and encouragement over the years.  You will be remembered always.

• Deborah Foster
  Senior Program Director
  Street Law, Inc.

From Erminia Scarcella

As a Rotarian fellow I feel shocked that he passed away so soon! Ed conveyed a sprit of peace, acceptance, love and profound respect for the humanity. You are going to be missed ED!

Rotary is going to miss you so much!

God bless you !

• Erminia Scarcella, M.D., DLFAPA
  Psychiatry-Psychoanalysis
  Assistant Clinical Professor at GWU

From Ioanna Kouvaritaki

I would like to express my sincere condolences to Ed’s family.

He was my colleague in the Master Class of 2005 -2006 for Children Rights Studies at the University of Fribourg/IUKB.

Though I knew Ed for a short period of time I am thinking of Ed for his kindness and gentleness, a person passionate for life, his family, his work, the rights of children and youth and social justice.

He was the good spirit of the class with a nice word for everybody.

I feel really sorry about his loss.

Rest in Peace.

Jeannine

• Ioanna Kouvaritaki
  Lawyer, Senior Investigator
  Children’s Rights Department
  The Greek Ombudsman