Syracuse University will host a memorial service today for Donna Arzt, a former professor of law for twenty years, at 1 p.m. today in Hendricks Chapel.

Arzt was a Dean’s Distinguished Research Scholar at the College of Law, and created the country’s first international law program available to first-year students. She died after a long illness on Nov. 15, 2008.

‘Her life really was as a law teacher,’ said Arlene Kanter, professor of law at SU and former colleague of Arzt’s. ‘It was her passion and her main dedication.’

One of Arzt’s most well known projects was her work with the Lockerbie Trials. On Dec. 21, 1988, a bomb exploded on Pan Am Flight 103 as it flew over Lockerbie, Scotland. The blast killed 270 people, including 35 SU students.

She was responsible for creating a database that allowed the families of victims of the Lockerbie tragedy to see what was happening during the trials, said Christian Day, associate academic dean at SU’s law school. The students working with Arzt had access to the trial transcripts, so they could simplify them and make them understandable to the families.

‘She really was a lifeline for the Pan Am families,’ Kanter said.

Arzt founded and directed the Sierra Leone Project, through which SU students and faculty helped the Office of the Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The office was established by the United Nations after the Sierra Leone civil war, which lasted from 1991 to 2002.

While her focus was on international law and international human rights, Arzt also taught classes in comparative law, consumer law, and immigration and refugee law, Kanter said.

‘Donna really believed in what she did,’ said Lynn Oatman, the senior secretary at the College of Law and former colleague and friend of Arzt’s. ‘She didn’t just teach her students things, she taught people like me, just by being the way she was.’

Arzt’s passion for international law taught her students many valuable lessons for the future, said Ruchi Thaker, her former graduate research assistant and student.

Thaker said working with Arzt on the Lockerbie project gave her many useful skills to become a successful lawyer and taught her interesting lessons about human rights.

‘She was such a highly educated woman, yet she could still relate to the rest of us and impart her knowledge and wisdom,’ Thaker said.

Before her death, Arzt decided that she wanted to donate her collection of international human rights books, including a few she’d written herself, to the law library, Kanter said. The books will be officially donated in a ceremony at Barclay Law Library after the memorial service. A reception will be held in the Heritage Alumni Lounge after the ceremony.

Kanter, Oatman and Day, along with three other law professors at SU, will speak at the service. Arzt’s sister and a former student will also give remembrances. Photos will be on display and a selection of Arzt’s favorite music will be played, according to the program for the service.

Published on March 26, 2009 at 12:00 pm