Background

Oscar Schachter was born on June 19, 1915, in New York, United States. He was the son of Max and Fannie (Javits) Schachter.

Education

A graduate of City College (now of the City University of New York) in 1936, Oscar earned a law degree from Columbia University in 1939, finishing first in his class.

Career

Admitted to the New York Bar in 1939, Oscar Schachter worked briefly in private practice before being hired by the United States Department of Labor in 1940. Serving in various State Department posts during World War II, Schachter became an expert on international legal and economic issues. He traveled to such countries as Poland and the Soviet Union, becoming a legal counselor to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in 1944.

In 1946 Schachter became a senior legal counsel to the Secretariat and the next year was made deputy director of the General Legal Division. From 1953 to 1966, he directed the legal division, and while in this post helped establish many of the laws that still guide the United Nations' international activities today. This work was followed, from 1966 to 1975 by his assignment as deputy executive director and director of studies of the Institute for Training and Research, a United Nations facility that prepares representatives from all over the world to work effectively at the United Nations.

Schachter left the United Nations in 1975 to accept a position as a professor of law at Columbia University. He became Hamilton Fish's professor of international law and diplomacy there in 1980, retiring in 1985.

Oscar also published several influential works on international affairs, including The Role of the Institute of International Law and Its Methods of Work: Today and Tomorrow (1973), Sharing the World's Resources (1976). and International Law in Theory and Practice (1991).

Achievements

• Oscar Schachter was one of the best known and respected international lawyers not only in the United States but also worldwide. He was an expert on international law whose work as a legal advisor to the United Nations has been credited with shaping the legal framework of the United Nations' peacekeeping mission. Schachter wrote books and dozens of monographs and articles on international law and institutions, legal philosophy, world peace, and security, and international resources.

Works

More photos

• book

  • International Law in Theory and Practice 1991
  • United Nations Legal Order 1995
  • Competition in International Business Law and Policy On Restrictive Practices 1981

Membership

Oscar was a former president of the American Society of International Law.

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  American Society of International Law , United States

Connections

Oscar married Mollie Miller on August 9, 1936. The couple had two daughters, Judith Schachter and Ellen S. Leventhal. His first wife died in July 1980. He married the second time Married Muriel L. Sackler on June 14, 1982.

Father:

Max Schachter

Mother:

Fannie (Javits) Schachter

Brother:

Marvin Schachter

Sister:

Honey Zimmer

late wife:

Mollie Miller Schachter

Wife:

Married Muriel L. Sackler

Daughter:

Judith Schachter

Daughter:

Ellen S. Leventhal