WASHINGTON (JTA) — Louis Henkin, a pioneer in human rights law, died at the age of 92.
Henkin, whose death was announced Oct. 14 by Columbia University, influenced the development of human rights law as a law school professor at Columbia and as the author of numerous books.
He faulted the United States for failing to sign international human rights covenants, his obituary on the Columbia Law website said.
Among the high-ranking judges citing him as a major influence was Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Born Eliezer Henkin in 1917 in what is now Belarus, he was the youngest child of a rabbi. Henkin and his family fled to New York in 1923, where a Hebrew school teacher dubbed him Louie.
