Association. Later, she became a professor at the School of Social Work in Halifax. She participated in several organizations including the Pictou Academy Educational Foundation. She also served as a member of the Nova Scotia Social Services Council. Mary Lou was predeceased by her parents, by her brother, Squadron Leader Malcolm MacLeod, and sisters, Lillian MacLeod and Gertrude Holton. She is survived by her husband, Lorne Clarke; her daughter, Nora; her sons, George (Cathy) and Colin (Sandra), and four grandchildren.
Paula Marie Jones-Wright
B.Sc.N, B.Ed., M.Ed. passed away
June 29, 2008, after a battle with cancer at the age of 44. She graduated from Dalhousie University with a Bachelor of Science in nursing in 1986. She returned to Saint Mary’s University to complete her bachelor and master’s degrees in education. Paula developed a distinguished, international reputation in the field of pharmaceutical clinical trials education, serving as a board member on the Association of Clinical Research Professionals based in Washington, D.C. She often spoke internationally and acted as a trainer, curriculum developer and consultant. She was a lifetime member of Banook Canoe Club in Dartmouth. Paula is survived by her husband, Douglas Wright (B.Comm. ’85), son of Millard “Joey” and Virginia “Ginny” Wright; and son, Foster, and twin daughters, Meaghan and Marie. By Paula’s side during her brief illness were parents, David (LL.B. ’56) and Marie Jones, and her brother and sisters – Martin (B.A. ’80, LL.B. ’83), his wife Ann (B.A. ’80, M.L.S. ’84), and children, David and Catherine; Teresa (B.Sc. ’83, M.D. ’88), her husband, Paul Dykeman (B.Comm. ’84), and children, Jonathan and Cassandra; Angela Jones-Rieksts (LL.B. ’97), her husband, Mark Rieksts (LL.B. ’97), and children, Markus, Cecilia and Anna; and Marie (M.P.A. ’03) and her husband, Matthew Moir (B.A. ’98, LL.B. ’01). She is also survived by many loving uncles, aunts and cousins. Paula was predeceased by her brother, David (B.A. ’81, LL.B. ’85), who died in 1985, and grandparents, Frank and Minnie Martin, and William and Lilian Jones.
Alastair Bissett-Johnson with wife Ann.
Alastair Bissett-Johnson
LL.B., LL.M The Law School family has lost a beloved former teacher and colleague, and friend. Professor Alastair BissettJohnson (known affectionately as “BJ”) died on July 9, 2008 of a pulmonary embolism in Scotland at the age of 67. Alastair was an enthusiastic and entertaining teacher whose dedication to his students at the law school was matched only by his dedication to the study and application of the law. Alastair was also a respected adviser to several Canadian provincial and territorial governments and the Canadian Department of Justice. His most influential contributions, and the substantial body of his work, were dedicated to child and family law reform. He was a feminist whose call for a greater fairness to women during divorce has proven to be a lasting contribution to the Commonwealth legal system. Alastair was born in Choppington, a village in northeast England. In his early school days at the Royal Masonic School for Boys at Bushey, Herts, Alastair found solace in the church choir. Asthma prevented pursuit of a career in music. He went on to study law at the University of Nottingham. He graduated in 1962 winning an English Speaking Union/ Fullbright Fellowship to study for a masters degree in international comparative law at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He began his teaching career at the University of Sheffield and
was then appointed a lecturer at the University of Bristol. He met his first wife, Dr. Winnie MacPherson, at Bristol, and they married in 1967. He qualified as a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1969 and began a twoyear secondment at Monash University in Melbourne. Following his return to England he taught at the University of Leicester. During this time he was a founding member of the International Society of Family Law. In 1976 Alastair and Winnie moved to Montreal where he taught at McGill University. In 1977 he joined the full-time faculty at Dalhousie Law School. At Dalhousie Alastair’s principal subject areas were Family Law, Conflict of laws and Equity and Trusts. However, he was not only an expert in his academic areas of specialty; he was a person of many parts. He was a great conversationalist, with an entertaining sardonic twist. He was a connoisseur of wines, not only of the expensive sort, but also those which most of us could afford. He wrote a popular wine column for the University Club newsletters. He was also a talented watercolour artist. He painted a series “Homes of Dalhousie law School” which hangs in the Law School, and was reproduced in a poster which many alumni purchased as a fundraiser in the aftermath of the Law School fire of 1985. Alastair approached his subject matter at a practical as well as academic level. He qualified as a barrister in each of the countries where he taught. While in Canada he worked as the coordinator of Juvenile and Family Law reform in the Yukon and co-drafted its Children’s Act, a piece of legislation that protected children while being sensitive to the cultural differences of the native and nonnative population. From 1977-84 he was a member of the Nova Scotia Child Abuse Team. In an effort to educate a wider audience he also became involved in the production of a television series on Violence in the Nova Scotia Family. He became the adviser to the minister of community services on reform of Nova Scotia’s Children’s Services Act in 1988-89 which lead to him being the member that drafted the Nova Scotia Children and Family Services Act in 1990. As
provincial editor of the Canadian Bar Review (1986-90), and assistant editor of the Dalhousie Law Journal (1986-90), along with his own research, he encouraged the research of others. In 1991 Winnie was diagnosed with cancer and the couple returned to the UK. Alastair took up a chair of private law at the University of Dundee where he taught family law, international private law and English Law subjects. Winnie died in 1992. In 1995 he was reacquainted with Ann Taylor, a childhood friend. They married in 1996. Alastair came back to Dalhousie Law School in 1992 to deliver the Horace E. Read Memorial Lecture. This was fitting as he had been very involved in arranging the speaker for the Read Lectures for many years during his time at Dalhousie. It is published in the Dalhousie Law Journal (1993) as “Family Violence - Investigating child abuse and learning from British mistakes.” Alastair retired from Dundee University in 2006. He is survived by Ann; his mother-in-law, Nancy; and his sister-in-law, Jean and her family in California. Alastair had a great fondness for classical music, and possessed a very large collection of long playing records of famous performers and orchestras. On the death of his first wife, Winnie, Alastair requested that those wishing to remember her play a version of the Faure Requiem. One might ask the same for “BJ” from his many Dalhousie friends.
Dalhousie Law School Hearsay 2008
85