Loss of a Classmate

From the Times::

HAEMMERLI--Alice Braverman who died on October 25, was a lawyer, scholar and teacher, who took great delight in both legal argument and in her writing on intellectual properties. In the job she held as Assistant Dean of International Programs and Graduate Legal Studies at the Columbia University School of Law (from which she retired in 2006), she was responsible for both the graduate and international programs. In that capacity, she guided many foreign post-graduate students through the rigors of the American system, and many of them from Jerusalem to Paris, Rome, and South Africa, will remember her with great admiration and affection. Her articles were published in numerous law reviews and she was cited by the Supreme Court on a variety of intellectual property issues. Before Columbia, Alice was a member of the Law Firm of Debevoise and Plimpton where she specialized in intellectual property. Prior to that she was the Director of Public Policy at Chase Manhattan Bank. Most recently, she worked in Pennsylvania for Barack Obama's election. Born in New York City, Alice attended Hunter College High School, and went on to graduate summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College. She was a brilliant student and won both a Woodrow Wilson Scholarship, and a Fulbright Fellowship which took her to the London School of Economics for her first MA. At Harvard, she earned a second MA in International Relations as well as her Ph.D. in International Law. Her Juris Doctor was granted by Columbia. It was in Cambridge that she met her late husband, Alfred Haemmerli, and they had a long and fruitful marriage until Freddy's death in 2001. Their daughter Justine, who was the most important thing in their lives, continues the family tradition as a dedicated teacher. Her work was important to Alice, but she also took huge pleasure in family, friends and her pastimes, especially riding her horse, French, as well as travel, reading, and music. She is survived by her beloved daughter, Justine, her sisters, Laura Shannon and Marta Bartolozzi, twin brother David, niece, Heather Shannon and dearest lifelong friend, Reggie Nadelson. She will be sorely missed by all those whose lives she touched.

Alice and I entered Columbia Law together, and I always enjoyed her wit, her fire, and her fierce commitment to truth. As is all too often the case, I lost touch with her after graduation, until a few years ago when she and I ran into each other near the Law School.

My sincere condolences to her family; if, as Harry Flashman once said, each death diminishes us, but some more than others, then Alice's loss is one of those.

Vogue a la galere, my friend. Let your ship sail free.