In Memoriam: Betty May Foon Ho

• Author: William P. Alford, Johannes MM Chan, Mayo Moran, Mariana Mota Prado, Anthony Sebok, and Zhenmin Wang
• Pages: 2-16

2PROF. BETTY HOVol. 3:1

IN MEMORIAM: PROF. BETTY MAY FOON HO

WILLIAM P. ALFORD

I consider it a great privilege to have known Professor Betty Ho.

From the time I first met her many years ago in Hong Kong, it was

apparent that she was someone who brilliantly exemplified what I

admire most about education.

Professor Ho's dedication to learning, to the power of the truth,

and, most importantly, to her students and their potential was

immense. As an internationally recognized scholar of corporate,

commercial and financial law, she was the rare individual who

earned professorships on distinguished law faculties in several

countries. And yet, though she took justifiable pride in her

positions at the University of Hong Kong and the University of

Toronto, Betty was not one to rest content on her laurels. Instead

she felt an intense desire to do what she could to advance the rule of

law in China by tirelessly dedicating herself to training a new

generation of Chinese students.

Professor Ho was demanding of her students – not for its own

sake – but because of her deep faith in them and their ability to rise

to the challenges she posed, and her sense that nothing less would be

true or fair to them and to the future they represented for China. I had

the opportunity to bear witness to this in several ways. Betty never

asked me for anything for herself nor any favors for any students, but

she did one time ask if I would, on an informal basis, read several of

her students' examinations (randomly selected and without their

names on them) and grade them as if they were exams at my own

school. Her goal in this request, she indicated, was to see if she was

demanding as much from her students as my law school was

expecting from its students. I was delighted to be of help in so

worthy an undertaking and even more delighted when the papers

turned out to be of a very high quality indeed.

Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law and Vice Dean for the Gradu ate Program and International Legal

Studies, Director of East Asian Legal Studies, Harvard Law School.