To sir with love* - The cast of Glee

This was reported in the University of Essex webpage yesterday:-

It is with great sadness that we have learnt of the death of human rights pioneer Professor Sir Nigel Rodley KBE, who has died at the age of 75.  

Sir Nigel was one of the founding fathers of the University of Essex Human Rights Centre, a generous colleague and a wonderful friend. He leaves his mark all over international human rights law and institutions, in particular at the United Nations. 

He dedicated most of his life to combating torture and other serious human rights violations and was a beacon of hope to victims of such atrocities. He will be greatly missed by colleagues at Essex, those around the world who have worked with him and by the many students he has inspired over the years.

Pic taken from the Uni of Essex webpage

Sir Rodley was my lecturer. He was my supervisor for my dissertation. He was a wonderful person.The world has lost a great man. The world is a better place today because of the work that this man did when he was alive.

He was such a great and well respected person and he has done so much to improve the respect and fulfillment of human rights around the world, and at the same time, he was always so humble, always so friendly. The meetings I had with him were usually short and I regretted not taking the opportunity to ask him more of the work he had done and the horrible violations of human rights that he had come across.

During lectures, he was always ready to make jokes and laugh but when he starts to talk about how human rights were being violated and breached, you could see the seriousness in him and the heart he had to defend and protect those rights.

If I had met him without knowing anything about him, I wouldn't guess what he had done. But I found out what he did - and was so impressed and inspired. I am a better person today because of him.

Thank you, Sir!

*Their version of this classic song which was sung in season 1