A great mind, as a barrister he defended numerous cultural property cases

I was very sad to hear yesterday of the death of Professor Norman Palmer.

I have met him numerous times, both at conferences and other events relating to cultural property restitution, as well as sitting on the opposite side of the table from him, as part of the group interviewing a team about their suitability for representing Greece in the case to reunify the Parthenon Sculptures.

Readers of this site may be most familiar with him as part of the team with Geoffrey Robertson and Amal Clooney that met with the Greek Government in 2014. Palmer was also well known within the sphere of cultural property restitution for chairing the Human Remains Working Group, whose work eventually led to the change in UK law allowing the repatriation of human remains to indigenous peoples in Australia and elsewhere.

He advised governments and international bodies on the drafting of new cultural property laws and was instrumental in the resolution of various cultural property disputes. He was also a great supporter of mediation and other out of court settlement methods for cultural property disputes.

Immensely knowledgeable, Norman’s academic credentials added gravitas to any team he was a part of. He will be sadly missed.

Professor Norman Palmer QC

From:
Institute of Art and Law

In Memoriam – Norman Palmer QC CBE
Posted on: October 5, 2016 by Alexander Herman

We are sad to announce that the Institute of Art & Law’s Academic Principal, Norman Palmer QC (Hon) CBE, has passed away. Norman was the guiding light of this organisation ever since its beginnings over twenty years ago. Along with his wife, Ruth Redmond-Cooper, he made the IAL what it is today. He provided countless hours of instruction to hundreds of students and will no doubt be sorely missed by all. His wisdom and intellectual curiosity led to the publication of foundational tomes, including Palmer on Bailment, Art Loans and Museums and the Holocaust, as well as dozens of articles in the area of art and cultural property law.

And some more details about him and his career.
Read the rest of this entry »

The one time chairman of Marbles Reunited & long time reunification supporter has died aged 78

I first met Eddie O’Hara in 2001. Since then, I have got to know him well through out common interest of the return of the Parthenon Marbles, and he later chaired the Marbles Reunited Committee of which I am a member. On standing down from Parliament in 2010, he became Chair of the BCRPM,

He was tireless in his support for the issue, regularly raising it in Parliament, as well as speaking at conferences around the world in support of restitution.

During recent years, he had respiratory problems, but he never let this stop his campaigning, despite the fact that it clearly made travel far more difficult thatn it had once been.

Eddie passed away on Saturday 28th May 2016. His wisdom and vigour will be missed by all who knew him.

Eddie O’Hara MP and Parthenon Marbles campaigner

From:
Guardian

Eddie O’Hara obituary
Labour MP with a passion for the reunification of the Parthenon marbles
Julia Langdon
Tuesday 31 May 2016 17.22 BST

Eddie O’Hara, the former Labour MP for Knowsley South, who has died aged 78, had a lifelong passion for Greek scholarship and culture and was a fervent enthusiast for the long-running campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon marbles.

An irony of his years of dedication he gave to this cause was his good fortune to be alive to pursue it, as he had been personally identified as a military target when doing national service with the British Army in Cyprus in the late 1950s. A keen sportsman and athlete, he took a daily run outside the army camp, always along the same route in the Cypriot countryside, a routine that was observed by the Eoka terrorists who were fighting to free their island from what was termed “the British yoke” and who mined his path. Had the booby-trap not been discovered in time, the Greek Cypriots would have been denied the subsequent support O’Hara demonstrated as one of the most tireless and articulate advocates of their political interests.
The stories you need to read, in one handy email
Read the rest of this entry »

In the mid 1980s, when interest in the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles was not as high as it is now, Christopher Hitchens chose to write his second book about the Parthenon Marbles – and why he thought that they should be returned to Greece. This book still is perhaps the text that most eloquently summarises the arguments for the return of the sculptures & refutes those against. It has since been reprinted in three different editions, each time summarising the current status of the case, with introductory passages written by various others involved with the campaign.

His book was the first thing that I read when researching the design of the New Acropolis Museum – which led to my interest in the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles ever since then.

Particularly in his later works, I disagreed with much of what Hitch wrote, but in other cases, his clear understanding of the arguments led me to change my own mind on subjects. Throughout his life though, he steadfastly maintained his assertions that the Parthenon Sculptures should be returned to Greece.

Farewell Christopher, you will be missed.

(Interestingly, I notice that the Reuters obituary was written by Sharon Waxman – herself an author of a book on disputed artefacts in museums)

From:
Reuters

Christopher Hitchens: A salute to intellectual honesty
By Sharon Waxman
Sun Dec 18, 2011 2:42pm EST

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Nothing sharpened Christopher Hitchens’ mind like cancer.

He wrote the best, most piercing, most clarifying prose of his career as he faced down the specter of his own demise.

As he dealt with fatigue and nausea, with the anger, disgust and frustration that must accompany what he knew was a death sentence, Hitch poured it all into words that were as painfully honest as they were hilarious.
Read the rest of this entry »

George Hajifanis, a member of the Management Committee of Marbles Reunited unfortunately died suddenly a few weeks ago.

George worked tirelessly for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, using his connections within London’s Greek Cypriot community, as well as via other organisations involving the diaspora in Europe. His contributions & level headedness will be sorely missed.

From:
London Greek Radio

LGR – 22 December 2008

The funeral for George Hajifanis will be held today (23/12). The service will take place at St Sophia’s Church, Moscow Road, Bayswater and the burial will follow at Hendon Cemetery, Holders Hill Road.

George Hajifanis, Secretary of the National Federation of Cypriots in Britain, died suddenly in hospital on 15th December. He had suffered a stroke while he was visiting, together with his wife and two daughters, relatives in Maidstone, Kent.
Read the rest of this entry »

Bruce Blades, head of the International Organising Committee – New Zealand – for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles, sadly died on 26th of June.

Bruce was a tireless campaigner for the reunification of the Elgin Marbles to Athens, with his efforts eventually leading to a motion being passed in New Zealand’s parliament urging the British Museum to return the sculptures.

He will be missed greatly both by the campaign within New Zealand, but also by other reunification campaigns around the world.

From:
Dominion Post

Zisis Bruce Evangelos Blades
Tireless community worker
PETER KITCHIN – The Dominion Post | Thursday, 10 July 2008

Zisis Bruce Evangelos Blades, engineer: Born Wellington, September 8, 1937; married 1967 Kathy Papadimitriou 1 son 1 daughter; died Wellington, June 26, 2008, aged 70.
Bruce Blades, of Brooklyn, was a civil engineer whose multiplicity of skills extended to sports field strategies and diplomacy.

He was a cultured dynamo whose enthusiasms were tempered by a great deal of commonsense and a closely held understanding of team and family dynamics. His negotiation skills were first-rate, and he had a disarming capacity for leaping hurdles in order to reach solutions.
Read the rest of this entry »

Graham Binns, who in recent years was well known as the head of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles has sadly died at the age of seventy-seven.

From:
The Times

May 22, 2003
Graham Binns

Promoter of the arts and of commercial radio, who campaigned for the Elgin Marbles to go back to Greece
From 1997 until 2002 Graham Binns was the chairman of the British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles. He was one of the committee’s first members, and was thrilled by the latest design for the new Acropolis Museum in Athens, where the Greek Government wishes to place the unified Marbles.

When the committee was first established, many thought its aim eccentric, but Binns was never deterred by the hostility which the views of the committee frequently met. He often conducted conversations through the letters columns of the broadsheet papers. In correspondence in The Times last year, he wrote: “If the British Museum ‘transcends national boundaries’, it makes sense to bring all the pieces relating to the Parthenon together in a purpose-built museum next to the monument where, indeed, they can be under the British Museum’s ownership and auspices. Things move on.”
Read the rest of this entry »