[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 34 (Monday, February 26, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1212-S1213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING MAURY DUANE GEIGER

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on February 18, 2018, New Hampshire lost 
one of its finest lawyers and humanitarians, Maurice Duane Geiger. He 
was 83 years old.
  Some might ask why, as a Senator from Vermont, I would call the 
Senate's attention to a resident of our neighbor to the east. In fact, 
Maury Geiger not only had close ties to Vermont where, in 1982, he 
cofounded the Rural Justice Center in Montpelier, he was in every 
respect a global citizen. Over his long career, he worked to improve 
access to justice in Haiti, Bangladesh, Rwanda, and several other 
countries.
  I met Maury Geiger years ago and will never forget going with him, my 
wife, Marcelle, and my staff member Tim Rieser to visit the national 
penitentiary in Port au Prince, Haiti. A more squalid example of a 
corrections facility would be hard to imagine. It was overflowing with 
thousands of impoverished men of all ages, sweltering in the heat and 
humidity, crammed into cement rooms with nothing to sleep on but the 
floor, with little food and vulnerable to AIDS, tuberculosis, and other 
dangerous diseases, and the vast majority had never been formally 
charged with any crime. Some had languished there for 2 or more years, 
far longer than any sentence they would have received if tried and 
convicted. Almost none had lawyers.
  After first laying eyes on that unforgettable scene of inhumane 
neglect, Maury returned to Haiti year after year, determined to do 
whatever he could to help improve the lives and protect the rights of 
those caught up in Haiti's corrupt, dysfunctional justice system. It 
was that same passion for justice that took him to the courts and jails 
of rural America and to distant places like Addis Abba and Tbilisi.
  As his obituary describes, Maury was born into poverty, and that 
experience, and his mother's guidance, shaped his character. He served 
as a naval aviator and then at the Department of Justice. He was as 
patriotic and as fierce a defender of the Constitution and Bill of

[[Page S1213]]

Rights as anyone I have known. He became one of our country's first 
experts in court administration, and he worked throughout his life to 
teach others about the fundamentals of a modern justice system.
  Maury loved his work, and he cared passionately about fairness. He 
devoted his life to fighting for justice at every opportunity. Knowing 
what it means to be poor, Maury did not hold himself above anyone. He 
was not the least bit impressed by wealth or titles. He loathed the 
self-importance of so many government officials and the abuse of power, 
especially when it was at the expense of those without power, which is 
so common in places like Haiti where inequality is glaring and the rule 
of law barely exists. He was known for his irreverence, just as he was 
for his wonderful, dry sense of humor.
  Over the years, I have met countless accomplished people, many of 
them of the highest integrity. Maury Geiger could match any of them. He 
was as ethical, selfless, compassionate, and determined a champion of 
the less fortunate as anyone I have known.
  My thoughts are with Nancy, his wife of 58 years, and their four 
sons, Robert, Kevin, Tom, and Steven. I know they are all proud of the 
principled example Maury set for all of us.
  I ask unanimous consent that the February 20 obituary of Maurice 
Duane Geiger in the Conway Daily Sun be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

             [From the Conway Daily Sun, February 20, 2018]

       Maurice Duane Geiger, 83, died Feb. 18, 2018, following a 
     long struggle with Parkinsonism, at his home in Center 
     Conway, surrounded by family at his bedside. He dedicated his 
     life to justice.
       He was born on Aug. 20, 1934, south of White Cloud, Mich., 
     and east of Newaygo, in an isolated log cabin with no running 
     water except the creek out back. He lived the first years of 
     his life in the cabin with his five siblings, spending much 
     of his time with the animals and plants of the surrounding 
     woods. The cabin, which his father had helped build, burned 
     to the ground when Maurice was 6.
       His father was Lawrence Geiger, and his mother was born L. 
     Marguerite Welch. His parents separated while Maurice was a 
     child. His mother, whose grit and wisdom served as a support 
     and guide for Maurice, was a schoolteacher. She ended up with 
     a different post nearly every year, and Maurice said he had 
     moved about 15 times before he graduated from Clinton High 
     School in 1952.
       He then attended Michigan State University, while he worked 
     40 hours a week at an Oldsmobile plant to support his family. 
     He received his bachelor's degree from Michigan State in 1956 
     with a major in police administration.
       After college, he joined the Navy and graduated from flight 
     school at the Naval Air station in Pensacola, Fla. He was an 
     aviator on active duty in the Navy from 1956-1957. Following 
     his active service, he moved to Washington, D.C., serving in 
     the reserves for several more years, finally leaving as 
     lieutenant commander. In D.C., he first worked as a 
     corrections officer in the Bureau of Prisons and then as a 
     computer programmer for the Navy. During this time, he met 
     his future wife, Nancy Crocker, in a boarding house in the 
     nation's capital where they both rented rooms. They married 
     on May 27, 1960. They had four sons, each born two years 
     apart starting in 1962.
       While working days, Maurice took night classes at 
     Georgetown University Law Center and he received his law 
     degree in 1963. He went to work for the U.S. Department of 
     Justice in 1965, becoming the director of the department's 
     Management Information Office the next year.
       He left the Department of Justice in 1969, following the 
     election of Richard Nixon, saying that the department was 
     becoming too politicized and no longer interested in justice. 
     He was recruited by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Tom 
     Clark to develop management systems capability at the Federal 
     Judicial Center, which serves as staff to the U.S. Supreme 
     Court.
       In 1972, he and his family moved to Birch Hill in North 
     Conway. From 1972 to 1976, he was a staff attorney and 
     adjudication specialist for the New England region for the 
     Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. During the late 
     1970s and early 1980s, he worked with Ernest Friesen, dean of 
     the California Western University School of Law, studying and 
     working to improve court systems throughout the country by 
     helping them to reduce backlogs and delays.
       In 1982, he co-founded the Rural Justice Center with 
     Kathryn Fahnestock. They worked together to reform judicial 
     systems in rural areas and small towns throughout the United 
     States. Starting in 1995, the Rural Justice Center 
     concentrated on international programs. Maurice made scores 
     of trips to Haiti, spent 15 months in Bangladesh, and also 
     worked in Rwanda, Ethiopia, the Republic of Georgia, Armenia, 
     and other countries. He was awarded the New Hampshire Bar 
     Association's 2008 Daniel Webster International Lawyer of the 
     Year Award. In 2016, he was honored by Haiti's Supreme 
     Council of Judicial Power for his two decades of service 
     working to improve the country's judicial system.
       The United States Agency for International Development 
     issued him a certificate of appreciation ``in recognition of 
     Maurice Geiger's tireless advocacy for judicial and prison 
     reforms in Haiti, which have benefited thousands of Haitians. 
     His unflinching and selfless quest for justice, taken often 
     at great personal sacrifice to his own health and finances, 
     have made him a hero to the Haitian people and to all who 
     have crossed his path.''
       Over the years, he appeared on ``CBS News,'' ``60 Minutes'' 
     and in front-page articles in The New York Times concerning 
     Haiti and judicial reform issues.
       He was a member of both the Virginia and New Hampshire bar 
     associations.
       ``Looking back over the last 50 years,'' Maurice told the 
     New Hampshire Bar Association's Bar News in 2013, ``I find 
     that I take the most satisfaction from helping to bring 
     relief to the . . . poor souls trapped in the godforsaken 
     prisons and jails wherever they exist.''
       He later estimated that his work had helped free several 
     thousand Haitians who should have no longer been in prison. 
     Many of them had languished in prison awaiting trial for 
     longer than they would have been sentenced to serve if they 
     had been found guilty. Maurice spent considerable time with 
     children at an orphanage in Haiti and brought loads of 
     supplies to them during his many trips to the island. He 
     said: ``My most memorable experience was living through the 
     devastating earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 
     2010.''
       Despite his travels, Maurice immersed himself in the civic 
     life of the Mount Washington Valley.
       He was a delegate to the New Hampshire Constitutional 
     Convention in 1974. Beginning in 1976, he practiced law in 
     Carroll County, primarily taking pro bono and court-appointed 
     cases.
       He served as president of the Eastern Slopes Little League 
     in 1977. He was elected to three terms on the Conway School 
     Board, serving nine years from 1975 to 1984. He was elected 
     Carroll County Attorney, and served as the county's 
     prosecutor from 1992 to 1994.
       Maurice loved playing sports with his sons and with other 
     young people in the area. On weekends, he could often be 
     found playing touch football on the green in North Conway in 
     summer and fall, or boot hockey by Third Bridge on West Side 
     Road in winter. He also spent many hours playing basketball 
     and tennis. He served as an umpire at Little League games and 
     later as a line judge for the Volvo International tennis 
     tournament in North Conway. He was an occasional poet, and 
     several of his poems were published in Mount Washington 
     Valley newspapers.
       U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, where the Rural Justice 
     Center was based, honored Geiger by entering a tribute into 
     the Congressional Record. Leahy said, ``The example he has 
     set of selflessness, of caring, commitment to human rights 
     and equal access to justice, and of an unwavering belief in 
     the basic dignity of all people regardless of their station 
     in life, is one that every law student, every lawyer, every 
     prosecutor, every judge, and every prison warden should 
     strive to emulate.''
       He is survived by one sister, Marguerite I. Kellogg, of 
     Lansing, Mich.; his wife, Nancy C. Geiger, of Center Conway, 
     N.H.; their four sons, Robert S. Geiger, of Silver Spring, 
     Md., his wife, Catherine Buckler, and their daughter, Sophia 
     Buckler Geiger; Kevin W. Geiger of Pomfret, Vt., his wife, 
     Corinne Smith, their son, Brendan Geiger, and their daughter, 
     Rosalie Geiger; Thomas S. Geiger of Seattle, Wash., his wife 
     Aiko Schaefer, their son, Isaiah Schaefer-Geiger, and their 
     daughter, Naomi Schaefer-Geiger; and Steven T. Geiger of 
     Washington, D.C., and his spouse, Raul Serpas; sister-in-law, 
     Linda Saunders and brother-in-law, Albert Saunders of 
     Plymouth, Mass.; brother-in-law, James Lopez of West Olive, 
     Mich.; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
       A memorial service will be planned for a later date. 
     Arrangements are being handled by Furber & White Funeral Home 
     in North Conway. The family would like to extend a special 
     thank you for the care and comfort provided the Visiting 
     Nurse Home Care & Hospice of Carroll County. Donations in 
     Maurice's memory can be made to Health through Walls, a non-
     profit whose mission is to assist low-income countries in 
     implementing sustainable improvements in the health care 
     services of their prisons.
       The donations can be made online at healththroughwalls.org 
     or by mail to Health through Walls, 12555 Biscayne Blvd., No. 
     955, North Miami, FL 33181.

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