The Centre was saddened to hear of the death of Professor Nissim ‘Nico’ Bar-Yaacov, who passed away in Israel yesterday at the age of 93. Nico was a very dear friend and supporter of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law.
Professor Bar-Yaacov studied International Law at Cambridge University in 1955, and was supervised by Hersch Lauterpacht, Eli Lauterpacht’s father. It was during this time that he met, Claire, the niece of Eli’s mother. He and Claire married and he became a frequent visitor to the Lauterpacht household.
Professor Bar-Yaacov went on to study for a Doctor of Philosophy in International Law at the Hebrew University Jerusalem in 1961 and lectured there during the 1960s, later becoming a Professor and returning to Cambridge as a Visiting Scholar in 1989-90. He was also Secretary of the International Law Association, Israel Branch, 1955-1968 and Counsel for Israel Egypt-Israel Arbitration on Taba, 1986-1988.
Professor Bar-Yaacov also published Handling of International Disputes by Means of Inquiry (Oxford University Press, 1974), The Israel-Syrian Armistice: Problems of Implementation, 1949-1966 (Magness Press, 1967) and Dual Nationality (London: Stevens, 1961) which, although written some time ago, are still very much in use today.
‘Nico’ as he was known, was a highly regarded international lawyer - very scrupulous in being impartial and rigorous in his research. He was greatly admired - a very ‘modest man’ and ‘easy to talk to’. He will be sadly missed by his many friends at the Centre, and around the world.
The Centre expresses its heartfelt condolences to Nico’s wife, Claire, and children – Michael, Nomi and Dina and their families.
(Happy Birthday Nico: Reminiscences on your 90th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-g3zGOVDzo)