Surya Prakash Sinha

SURYA PRAKASH SINHA 68 years old, died peacefully at his home on July 30, 2005 after a long illness. He leaves his wife Jessica, daughter Sonya, his mother, a sister and two brothers in the United States, and three sisters in India. He was a gregarious, thoughtful, warmhearted gentleman, and a devoted family man.

Surya Prakash Sinha is the first Indian to become a Law Professor in the United States, as well as Canada. He taught law in tenured positions in half a dozen law schools in North America, and is Professor Emeritus at Pace University Law School. He was an Associate of Columbia University Seminar on Peace, a think tank, since 1969. He was honored as a pioneer at the Northeast People of Color Conference (Law Professors) in 1998, and celebrated as the First Asian Law Professor in Ontario by the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2002.

He published six books in international law and jurisprudence (legal philosophy). He published thirty articles, numerous book reviews and delivered many papers. His works were cited by the World Court, excerpted in textbooks, reviewed world-wide, and are responsible for a new movement in jurisprudential thought called Legal Polycentricity. His degrees include Doctor of the Science of Law, Master of Laws, Master of Science in Business Administration, Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Commerce, and Diploma of the Institute of Cost & Works Accountants. His biography appears in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in American Law, and the Dictionary of International Biography.

For his fiction writing, he received formal training at the Iowa Writers Workshop. He had been writing fiction since his early youth, publishing his first short story while still a law student in India. His novel manuscript won the Hackney Literary Award, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts Fellowship for Fiction, and the National Writers Association Award for Novel.

He studied Indian classical music on Sitar and accompanied Vasant Rai and Sultan Khan in concerts at Carnegie Recital Hall, Bottom Line and Felt Forum. He wrote music arrangement for the record "Vasant Rai/Evenings Ragas," played Tanpura for the CD "Vasant Rai: The Splendour of Sarod," and created concepts for the CD "K. Paramjyoti: Thinking Tabla. "

Surya and Jessica drove to India from Europe twice in the mid '60's. They enjoyed many travels and adventures all over the world with their daughter Sonya.

The family will plan a memorial service in a few months. The family requests that any donations in his memory be sent to the Bennett Cancer Center in Stamford, Connecticut.