Leslie GREEN

GREEN, Leslie C.
Order of Canada, CM, Fellow of the Royal
Society of Canada, LLD (London, UK),
LLD (Hon. University of Alberta)
November 6, 1920 - November 26, 2011
Edmonton, Alberta
Doctor Leslie Green passed away suddenly on November 26, 2011, on his way to attend a concert at the Edmonton Symphony, of which he was a former Board member.
Leslie Green was born in London and educated at the Davenant Foundation School, from where he went to University College London as a student in the Faculty of Laws in 1938. He graduated in 1941 with first class honours and was top of the list.
From University he went straight into the British Army as a private in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, however, he was sent to the School of Oriental and African Studies, where he spent fourteen months learning to read and translate Japanese. He was then transferred to the Intelligence Corps and sent to India. He was transferred to the Prosecution Section GHQ attaining the rank of Major and Deputy Military Prosecutor at age 26. It was during these years in India that he met his wife of 66 years.
He taught International Law and Relations at University College London, and was Dean of the Law Faculty, National University of Singapore, before being invited to accept a newly created Chair at the University of Alberta in 1965. He lectured in various Universities across the world.
He was a world renowned international lawyer and an expert in the law of war and anti- terrorism. He advised several governments and was the legal advisor to the Canadian Delegation at the Geneva Diplomatic Conference responsible for revising the Geneva Conventions, compiled the Canadian Manual of Armed Conflict Law in 2000, and received the "Judge Advocate General's Commendation" in 2005.
Distinguished "University Professor" and Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta, he was the author of several books, the latest of which was The Contemporary Law of Armed Conflict (University of Manchester Press, 3 editions, 1993, 2000 and 2008) which is consulted by the armies of the western world. Earlier works included The Law of Nations And The New World with Olive Dickason (University of Alberta Press 1989) and several editions of International Law Through The Cases (1951, second edition Stevens, London 1959, Praeger, New York 1959, Stevens 1962; third Stevens 1970, Oceana New York, 1970; and fourth Carswell, Canada 1978, Oceana New York, 1978). He was the first non-American and only Canadian to hold the Stockton Chair of International Law at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island, as well as the first person to be invited to extend his term.
He loved life and enjoyed it till the end. He will be missed by family, friends and colleagues throughout the world. He is survived by his wife, Lilian, and daughter Anne (Holger Petersen).