Challenging.
Motivating. Exceptional. The kind of person that you never forget.That is how faculty members, friends and students will remember Anglo-American University (AAU) law professor and co-founder John H. Carey II, 46, who died Aug. 7 unexpectedly at his home near Beroun, central Bohemia.University officials said authorities have yet to confirm an official cause of death, but have ruled it accidental. University President Alan Krautstengl was on hand at Carey’s memorial service Aug. 30 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he formally announced that AAU’s law division would be re-named the John Harvey Carey II School of Law in the professor’s memory.For both co-workers and students, many of whom are still expressing shock and disbelief over the news of Carey’s death, the law school’s re-dedication is a fitting tribute to a founding father and outstanding teacher. “He was a really great professor, and it’s a tragic loss for all of us,” said Václav Šmejkal, dean of AAU’s School of Law, adding that Carey had recently advised a student who went on to achieve the school board’s most exceptional mark on a thesis. “It will be extremely difficult to replace him as both a colleague and a friend.” According to Šmejkal, Carey’s lecture techniques frequently diverted from Central and East European university norms, a method that some students initially found off-putting. “He really liked to challenge students and to get them to ask their own questions,” Šmejkal said. “Many of our students say they had to get used to his style of teaching at first. His range was very broad.” Students said they quickly learned to appreciate Carey’s more subjective approach to legal studies.“He never followed one theme from beginning to end,” said AAU student and Zdiby, central Bohemia, native Ingrid Ambruzová. “He’d jump from one thing to the next because he’d never look [only] at a law problem, but also at other factors from other fields. He always posed tricky questions and was very demanding. … He wanted us to think deeper.” ‘Remember the happiness’Ambruzová has yet to come to terms with the death of one of her favorite professors. “I still cannot believe it is true,” she said. “I can’t imagine he won’t be there on our first day and ask about what we’ve been doing over the summer. … I think it is a tragedy and, despite the fact that he was a teacher, I think most students are feeling this loss very personally.” Other students felt similarly. “I can’t imagine AAU without him,” said former student Gea Ostreni of Tirana, Albania. “I hope he knows how much pain I’m feeling about his loss. I hope he knew how much we loved him.” She went on to recall Carey’s warm congratulations following her thesis dissertation, after which he plaintively asked her, “Now what?” A native of Minneapolis, Carey moved to Prague shortly after the 1989 revolution and helped found the Anglo-American College in Prague in 1990 (the institution gained university status in 2008). He served as the founding dean of the university’s legal studies program, where fellow faculty members say he was admired for his thorough knowledge in various law divisions.Carey received his law degree from the Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington. Prior to that, he served for several years in the U.S. Air Force, which included service in Germany. As an attorney, Carey specialized in contract and property law. But friends say he always felt he was born to teach, and the post-communist Czech Republic provided him with a great environment to do so. “I will remember the happiness in his eyes when his students were doing well, his pride when talking about how great they are and will one day be,” said close friend Julie Hábová, adding that Carey named Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill as his personal role models. “He saw great potential in the people here. … He changed many young people’s post-communist mindsets, and wanted his students to be critical thinkers.” In addition to his professional achievements, Carey will be remembered for his playful side, too. He was a passionate equestrian who spent much of his free time tending horses, after refurbishing a corral and barn adjacent to his Beroun home that allowed him to ride regularly. Throughout his 18-year tenure, Carey instructed AAU students from nearly 50 countries, some of whom say they will strive to adhere to his principles in their career endeavors.
(Prague Post)
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