Gordon Bazemore

14 August 1952-6 June 2021

The late Dr. Gordon Bazemore was a pioneer of the restorative justice movement, serving as a faculty member, first, in the School of Public Administration and, later, in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, both at Florida Atlantic University (Fort Lauderdale, USA). He was director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice for 6 years.
When we launched Restorative Justice: an International Journal, in 2013, we necessarily invited Gordon Bazemore as one of our expert voices to serve as a founding member on the International Advisory Board. Gordon was indeed an exceptional influence in the development and awareness of restorative justice.
From the early 1990s onwards, when restorative justice was still mostly considered a naïve idea shared among some unworldly do-gooders, Gordon recognised its huge value and engaged in investigating, developing, practising and speaking about restorative justice, especially in youth justice arenas. He profoundly understood the need for systemic change. In the volume we edited together, we created ‘a “maximalist” agenda for restorative juvenile justice’ (Bazemore & Walgrave, 1999: 7), establishing the foundation for what was later known as the maximalist version of restorative justice. With exceptional intellect, engagement and generosity, Gordon continuously explored how to do justice better by prioritising restorative approaches for responding to crime, conflict and injustice. As a researcher, publisher and deeply inspiring mentor, his contribution to the development of restorative justice in practice and in research is immeasurable both in the USA and around the world.
During the years Gordon and I worked together in co-editing and co-organising, I learned to appreciate him as one of my most intelligent and inspirational colleagues, as well as a stimulating adversary when such conversations were appropriate. I also discovered him as a loyal friend, a loving husband and proud father, and simply an emotionally rich and generous man, committed to ‘the right cause’. And we had more plans together that tragically did not materialise …
Gordon’s passing, after a decade-long struggle with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, is a terrible loss for the restorative justice world, for his close friends and colleagues, and, most especially, for his wife Cynthia and his two daughters, Sophia and Helena May.
But Gordon lives on, I am sure, in the hearts of his children, in the love of his wife and his friends, in the great ideas he inspired in colleagues, in young researchers and in the enthusiastic practitioners who follow in his footsteps.
A more extensive and moving in memoriam of Gordon has been published on the website of the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice (NACRJ). It is written by his closest colleague and friend, Mara Schiff, in collaboration with his wife, Cynthia Wright-Bazemore: https://nacrj.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=599:remembering-dr-gordon-bazemore-1952-2021&catid=69&Itemid=101.