[Jonathan Adler, May 10, 2009 at 6:16pm] Trackbacks
Henry T. King, RIP:

Professor Henry T. King passed away this weekend just a few weeks shy of his 90th birthday. After serving as a prosecutor at Nuremberg, where he helped with the prosecution of Albert Speer, Henry had a long and distinguished career as a private attorney and corporate counsel before joining the faculty of the Case Western Reserve University School of Law faculty and becoming U.S. director of the U.S.-Canada Law Institute. As his body deteriorated in recent years, his mind remained sharp and his spirit strong. Henry was a valued colleague and an inspiration. He will be missed.

UPDATE: The Cleveland Plain Dealer obit is here.

Tugh (mail):
Professor King, RIP. While I never took one of his classes, my wife did, and he was one of the best professors. What a nice man.
5.10.2009 7:01pm
Jason F:
I never met Professor King, but one of my best memories of my own law school experience in the late 90s is the conversations I had with Prof. Bernard Meltzer. Like Prof. King, Prof. Meltzer was a Nuremberg prosecutor whose mind remained sharp as a tack until the very end. Those guys who served at Nuremberg are amazing.
5.10.2009 7:43pm
NatSecLawGuy:
The last two Fall Conferences for international law have begun with Prof. King and Mr. Ben Ferencz, both former Nuremburg Prosecutors, discussing their perspectives on the state of International Criminal Law. The session was always a joy. The two old friends seemed to engage in a competition about making the final thought or winning idea. These volleys not only showed their yearning commitment to the field, but, as has been noted, their intact wit as well. It is a conversation that will be sorely missed in coming years.
5.11.2009 8:45am
rosetta's stones:
No offense to King, but how in the world could Speer not swing at Nuremberg?

Had to be an inside job, plus Speer was very smooth.
5.11.2009 9:29am
neurodoc:
I'd be curious to know what King's take was on Speer. rosetta's stones is not the only one to think that Speer got away with murder, figuratively and literally both, especially the latter.
5.11.2009 11:51am
Bpbatista (mail):
Speer got away with it because he was smooth and because he was the only defendant who seemed remorseful. Speer also told the story -- no one but him knows the truth -- that he seriously considered assassinating Hitler. Also, the Tribunal probably did not want to appear to be a kangaroo court so they could not execute everyone.

As one Nazi historian told me, Speer was a chameleon. That may be what saved his neck.
5.11.2009 1:20pm
Benjamin Davis (mail):
Saw him speak in 2007 at Chautauqua at a Robert Jackson Center Lecture with all of the chief prosecutors of the international criminal tribunals. A very beautiful speech that I cite in my 2008 article Refluat Stercus. Quite a guy. He said that people in his Wall Street firm discouraged him from going to Nuremberg as he would "lose his place on the track." I think he made the right choice.
Best,
Ben
5.12.2009 8:42pm

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