Alumni Updates November 5 – 11, 2018
As Silliman University celebrates the life of Outstanding Sillimanian Awardee and generous benefactor Dr. Rolando Villanueva del Carmen (October 16, 1930 – October 31, 2018), we share with you tributes from fellow Sillimanians to Dr. del Carmen, who exemplified the Silliman spirit of excellence and service to others throughout his life.
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Dr. Rolando Del Carmen was a great scholar, a deeply caring and sensitive person, and was loyal to friends. He loved his family so much. He was creative and astute on how to best help and uplift others. He was strongly rooted on faith in God, and was fully committed to Silliman and to the idea that each and every Sillimanian must somehow make a mark in the world, and help it spin a little more vigorously. Always made me feel like I was looking up at a giant. He was. I’ll miss him.
Dr. Ben S. Malayang III
12th President, Silliman University, HS ‘70
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Dear Silliman Family Worldwide:
The day Dr./Atty. Rolando Del Carmen left this earth after a gallant battle against pancreatic cancer was a sad day for Silliman University, the alumni, faculty and staff. We all grieve this loss because we now miss his steadfast loyalty to Silliman, wise counsel, meaningful conversation, and the humor of his friendly jokes.
When I was taking pre-med at SU in the early 1950s, he was Secretary of the College of Arts & Sciences as a working student in the College of Law College. He was very helpful to us students. He took me in as a very dear friend. He finished Law at SU with honors. He joined the Law faculty and in a few years, through his brilliance, he became its Dean for many years.
He married the beauteous Ms. Josefa Flores, Secretary to Dean Fitton of the SU College of Business Administration. Later, they left for the US for him to finish his Master’s and Doctorate in law at notable universities. He taught law in different universities, ending at the College of Law of Sam Houston State University of Texas.
Those who knew him intimately called him “Lando.” Yet, this humble person has spawned a legend across many countries. His legal brilliance had been acknowledged in international law circles, most especially in the realm of Criminal Law. He has written scores of books, many of them used as textbooks in law schools in the US, Asia, and Europe. Law books he authored have been translated into several languages. He was retired, an Emeritus Professor of Criminal Law at the Sam Houston State University.
He had been given many top national and international awards in law. His law students now occupy high levels of government responsibility in the USA, the Philippines, and elsewhere.
Dr. del Carmen’s support to Silliman has been exemplary; he has given not only financial but morally and material support as well. He had given scholarships to law students there; he supported the SUAKCREM Marine Laboratory of Dr. Angel Alcala, the Salonga Law Center, and since last year, he and Mrs. Erlyn del Carmen donated the Dr. Rolando del Carmen Center of Excellence. The latter is an attractive innovation: to give full tuition, board and lodging for 4 years to highly gifted students, to attract the brightest youth of our land. In his email to me, he stated that he wanted to attract the best talent of the country to go to Silliman.
Through his high intellect, his scholarship in law, his prodigious teaching, his published legal texts, his magnanimous donations to Silliman University, Dr. del Carmen has greatly honored his Alma Mater.
He has also brought a very high acclaim to Silliman University.
Grace and I send condolences to Mrs. Erlyn del Carmen and members of their families at this sad Hour.
We, his admirers, pray and hope that he will be accompanied by angels on his trip to the stately mansion in Heaven where the believers dwell in perfect joy, peace, and harmony for eternity!
Eusebio C. Kho, MD
HS ’52, BS Pre-Med ‘55
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Dear Friends,
I join the Silliman family in expressing sympathies to the del Carmen family and their loved ones, with prayers for peace and grace from the Lord.
A class under Dr. del Carmen (then Atty.), a requisite for a B. Music degree was one I appreciated. It is typical for music majors to be solely focused on mostly music-related topics and Dr. del Carmen broadened my perspective to what’s beyond the Silliman campus and current events beyond the Philippine shores.
I thank Dr. Kho’s tribute to his colleague and friend — a wonderful reminder of Dr. de Carmen’s life and legacy, as also from many others who wrote. I feel blessed and proud, once again, being a Sillimanian.
Daghang Salamat!
Lorna Urmeneta Singer
Music 1967
