In Memoriam David D. Caron (1952–2018)

Abstract

David was my first Iran-United States Claims Tribunal law clerk when I arrived in The Hague at the end of 1983. In preparing this In Memoriam, I identify with the words of our late colleague, Detlev Vagts, when writing about a favorite graduate student who, like David, suddenly had been taken from us far too early in life. Adapting those words to David:It is always a shock to a teacher when one of his students predeceases him. It seems to be an inversion of the natural order of things. That is particularly true of the death of [David D. Caron] who was so very alive, vigorous and, at least from this octogenarian's perspective, so very young at [65]. 1 This reversal of "the natural order of things," especially when a lifelong friendship has resulted from the initial relationship, inevitably renders this In Memoriam highly personal.Hence, I begin with David's origins and early life. His parents, simple folk, had emigrated from Quebec to Connecticut, where David was preceded in birth by two rather older siblings, a brother and a sister. The first critical turning point in David's life came when he was 12 years old and his father suffered a crippling stroke. Since the eldest of David's siblings already had left the family home and the next eldest followed not long thereafter, a very heavy burden fell upon David. Money was short and in the summers, David supplemented the family income by working as a common laborer in the shade-grown tobacco fields of Connecticut under the burning sun and in the relentless humidity.