Pioneer of foreign government terrorism lawsuits dies at 74

Posted: Dec 3, 2019 / 06:52 AM CST / Updated: Dec 3, 2019 / 03:46 PM CST

Visitor walks at through the former Nazi concentration camp in Terezin, Czech Republic, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. A unique collection of some 4,500 drawings by children who were interned at the Theresienstadt concentration camp during the Holocaust now displayed in the Pinkas Synagogue, still attracts attention even after 75 years since their creation. The drawings […]

WASHINGTON (AP) – A lawyer who pursued Nazi war criminals and pioneered the practice of suing foreign governments in U.S. courts for complicity to terrorism has died. Allan Gerson was 74.

The Washington Post reports that Gerson’s wife, Joan Nathan, said he died Sunday from complications of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Gerson wrote an opinion piece for the newspaper in 2017 in which he explored his identity as a former “dreamer.” He said he was 5 when he entered the U.S. illegally on a ship hauling Holocaust survivors and their kin to New York. He drew a parallel between his journey and those of immigrants targeted by the Trump administration.

Gerson’s lengthy career included serving as a deputy assistant attorney general under President Ronald Reagan.

Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com