The unique feature of Piet Sanders’ character was his extraordinary focus on the future. He was never interested in resting on his laurels or talking about ‘how far we have come’. He was constantly in forward motion, enjoying every moment of the adventure of building the world-wide social institution we now know as the international…
I first met Piet in 2008 when I started working on the ICCA publications. Visiting his house in Schiedam — having been warned that anything you touch might be a piece of art — I made my way very carefully up the stairs (elbows firmly pressed to my sides) to a study filled with books,…
Sometimes you have to listen to your husband, especially when he is endowed with intuition, and you tend to rely on reason. He said, “Go as soon as it is ready”. Thank goodness, I did. For months Rosabel Goodman-Everard and I had been soliciting and collecting letters from friends of Pieter Sanders which would be…
Thirty years ago, as a young Italian law graduate who had recently moved to The Netherlands, I applied for a job in the arbitration department of the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague. I did not know much about arbitration then, but I did know enough to be impressed by being interviewed by Professor Sanders,…
Friday, 28 September 2012, I sit in my hotel room in London, preparing my presentation for the African International Law Awareness (AILA) training session that afternoon. A message from my assistant at the university of Rotterdam flashes on my laptop: “Pieter Sanders died yesterday—very sad isn’t it?” I am stunned. Two weeks ago I had…
It is with great sadness that we at Kluwer received the news of Pieter Sanders’ death. As the founder and inaugural editor of the ICCA Publications, Piet has been crucial for Kluwer’s arbitration content. We will remember him as an inspiring person with many passions in life. To honor him, the general and managing editors…
