DECOSTE, Frederick Charles
(1946 – 2018)
Frederick C. DeCoste, professor emeritus of the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta, died at home in Edmonton on February 16, 2018. He is survived by his beloved wife of 21 years,
Lynn Cunningham; by his first wife,
May (O’Brien) DeCoste; by his sons Marcel (Susan Johnston) of
Regina and René of Edmonton, by his grandchildren Katherine, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Guillaume; by his daughter-in-law Joline Godin; and by his sisters Pauline (Anthony) Spenceley, Gail Quinn, Lois (Joseph) Head, and Nan (David) Clarke, and by numerous nieces and nephews. He is mourned, too, by the many dear friends, colleagues, and students who shared his passion for life and the law. He was predeceased by his father, Frederick Charles DeCoste, and by his mother, Adeline Elizabeth DeCoste (nee Cahill). Born October 15, 1946 in Charlottetown, P.E.I., he was an altar boy at St. Dunstan’s Basilica and, as a young man, attended St. Dunstan’s University, receiving his B.A. in 1968 before going on to receive a Master of Social Work from Carleton University in Ottawa. From 1975 to 1981 he worked for Mistikwa Community College, centred in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, eventually serving as principal. In 1982 he moved with his family to Saskatoon to attend the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan, graduating with distinction as Gold Medal Winner in 1985. He went on to receive his L.L.M. from Osgoode Hall in Toronto, and in 1987 accepted a position as assistant professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta, where he taught jurisprudence, legal ethics, and legal foundations as well as senior seminars on such topics as Law and the Holocaust, Law and Religion, and Law and Limited Government until his retirement as full professor in 2014. His service to the academy included a term as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Law and his commitment to his work as a coach for University of Alberta teams in the Laskin Moot competition. He was a member of the Law Society of Alberta and of the Canadian Justice Review Board. His articles have appeared in law journals in the United Kingdom and the United States and in legal and literary journals in Canada. He has authored or edited several books, including Feminist Legal Literature: A Selected Annotated Bibliography (Garland; with K.M. Munro and Lillian MacPherson); Law, Religion, Theology: A Selected Annotated Bibliography (Garland; with Lillian MacPherson); On Coming to Law: An Introduction to Law in Liberal Societies (Lexis) and The Holocaust’s Ghost: Writings on Art, Politics, Law, and Education (University of Alberta Press, coedited with Bernard Schwartz), which was awarded the 2001 Alberta Scholarly Book of the Year Award and the 2001 Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Award for Holocaust History. He enjoyed travel, gardening, the outdoors, opera, cooking, fine dining, and excellent wines. In recent years, he relished time spent at his vacation home in Spring Lake, Florida. He especially loved time with his family and with friends in the beautiful garden he created with Lynn in their Edmonton home. A memorial service will be held at Park Memorial Funeral Home, 9709 111 Ave NW, Edmonton, at 6 p.m. on Friday, February 23, 2018. In lieu of flowers, the family invites donations to the University Hospital Foundation to support the Ear Nose and Throat Clinic.