It is with deep sadness that we are marking the passing of Peter Hardin Jackson, the son of Senator Henry M. (Scoop) Jackson. Peter was an enthusiastic supporter of the School and a firm believer in our mission of training our students to be engaged citizens. For him, the world, the United States and the Puget Sound were one interwoven whole. Peter passed away on March 21.
The easiest way of starting to address the problems of our planet, or the dysfunction of politics in Washington D.C. was to start in our own community, by confronting discrimination, poverty, and violations of human rights as we experience them in our daily lives. It is with this perspective that Peter became interested in human rights and played a key role in getting the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, housed at the Jackson School, off the ground and endowing the Helen H. Jackson Chair in Human Rights in honor of his mother.
Peter spent the last weeks of his life making sure that the Human Rights Center’s work was properly recognized and supported. With this goal in mind he and his wife Laurie Werner started the Advancing Human Rights at Home Fund focused on human rights in the U.S.
Those of us who were lucky enough to get to know Peter will never forget him. Others will benefit from his generous spirit and from his many contributions for generations to come.
Please see the obituary that was published in HeraldNet Everett, and the moving tribute penned by our colleague Angelina Godoy, the Director of the Human Rights Center.
Reşat Kasaba
Director – Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Stanley D. Golub Chair of International Studies