Professor Paul H. Brietzke, formerly of Jackson Township, died on January 2, 2013, at home with his family, following a brief illness.

He is survived by his wife, Susan J. Adams, Ogden Dunes, Ind.; his son, Dr. Colin A. Brietzke, Oak Park, Ill.; and nieces Janice, Caroline, and Karen.

Born in Chicago, Ill., in 1944, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Lake Forest College, received his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin and his Ph. D from the University of London. For 43 years, he was a law professor and scholar of the law.

During his career, he taught law at the University of Malawi, Haile Selassie University (Ethiopia), Brunel University (UK), and for the last 34 years, at Valparaiso University School of Law. He was Fulbright Professor of Law at universities in Vietnam and Malaysia. In addition, he served as an overseas legal education and legal reform consultant in a number of countries including Indonesia, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and China.

Professor Brietzke was an avid reader and scholar who authored more than 60 books, articles, and chapters on a wide variety of topics including international legal education and economic/legal reform, the role of witchcraft in Malawi’s traditional courts, and climate change in the developing world.

His non-academic passions included photography, and his travels gave him many opportunities to indulge this interest. For the past 20 years he has been an active member of the Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club.

No public funeral service is planned, but a memorial at the law school will be scheduled, and a memorial celebration of his life is being planned for late spring in Ogden Dunes.

If anyone wishes to make a contribution in his honor, his charitable interests included Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam America.

Posted 1/8/2013