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- Ελληνικά
The Plenary Session of the Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts has unanimously decided to elect as an External Member Professor Simeon Chr. Symeonidis. The decision was taken at the 56th Ordinary Session of the Plenary Assembly of the Academy on 19.6.2024, on the proposal of the Class of Ethics, Economics and Political Sciences.
Pursuant to the legislation, the External Members of the Academy are distinguished persons who are citizens of the Republic or citizens of other states who are not permanent residents of the Republic, who have a recognized substantial work, in the judgment of the Academy, and an international presence comparable to that of the Regular Members, and who by their works and knowledge are judged by the Academy to be able to assist it in its work and the Republic in general.
Professor Simeonides was born in Lythrodontas and studied at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, receiving in 1972 a degree in Law with a grade 10 and subsequently, in 1973, a degree in Political Science from the same University. He continued on a scholarship to Harvard University, where he received his Master in Law and Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) degrees. In 1976 he began his teaching career in Thessaloniki and in 1978 continued at the University of Louisiana where he served as Vice Chancellor for seven years. At Louisiana he held the Albert Tate Distinguished Chair. In 1999 he was elected Dean of Willamette University in Oregon, USA, a position he held for twelve years. At that university he holds the Alex L. Parks Distinguished Honorary Chair and has been named Dean Emeritus.
He has published 30 books and 150 legal treatises in eight languages. The U.S., U.K. and Israeli Supreme Courts have made 25 honorary citations to his work, calling him a "leading authority on U.S. law." He has also been called "the undisputed leader" and "a giant of private international law" in the US, "the father of codifications" and "the world's leading expert on comparative private international law". In addition to his teaching career, his extensive legislative work includes codifications for three American states, participation in the drafting of two international treaties, and providing legal advice to international organizations, the European Parliament and state governments.
Despite his long absence from Cyprus, Professor Simeonides has always maintained close ties with the country. He played an important role in the trial in Indianapolis in 1989 for the return to Cyprus of the four Kanakaria mosaics, and participated in numerous other cases concerning the recovery of the cultural heritage of the Republic of Cyprus through litigation, contributing his expertise as an expert in cultural heritage law and private international law.
He also represented Cyprus in several conferences and organisations in the USA and Europe. During the Cyprus Presidency of the European Union in 2012, he travelled to Brussels and for six months chaired or participated in European integration processes on major European law regulations, including the revision of Brussels I and the negotiation of Rome III. Of particular importance was also his acceptance to be appointed as head of the committee that helped create the University of Cyprus Law School.
His international recognition can be seen, inter alia, in his proclamation as President of the International Association of Jurists and the American Society of Comparative Law. He has been elected as a Fellow of the American Law Institute and a member of the Order of the Coif, and has served as President of the Association of American Law Schools for the field of private international law. Among his many honors is his election in 2021 as a member of the Academia Europaea. In 2019 he was elected an honorary member of the Institut de Droit International. In 2017 he was named an honorary professor of East China University and an external member of the Venezuelan Academy of Political and Social Sciences. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Cyprus, Willamette University and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has received the Robert L. Misner Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship (2016), and the Certificate of Merit from the American Society of International Law (2015), and has been honored by the American Society of Comparative Law with the Lifetime Achievement Award (2015), the Courtland H. Peterson Senior Scholar Prize (2013), and the Friedrich K. Juenger Prize in Private International Law (2001). The Academia Mexicana de Derecho Privado y Comparado named its 2011 national conference in his honor, and he was honored by the Asociación Americana de Derecho Internacional Privado for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of private international law. The Louisiana Law Review devoted an entire issue in his honor in 2000. In recognition of his work, the Academy awarded him the Cyprus Republic Award in 2022.
(EAT/EP)
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