Many names were tossed at the night of May 23, as his writing career and restorative justice work were humorously honored with a “roast” at ��ݮ����. While most retiring professors of �ܱ���’s stature and worldwide celebrity are feted with a more standard banquet, a roast more suited both the man and his varied work.

More than 300 attendees agreed, traveling from around the world to honor �ܱ���’s influence as a reformer, teacher, a mentor, and visionary; to mark his retirement as a full-time faculty member; and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the publication of �ܱ���’s groundbreaking work, .

The evening also provided an opportunity to support the ongoing work of the , of which Zehr will remain a co-director with friend and colleague . A silent auction of global artifacts, artwork, locally crafted food and libations, and books, along with other donations, also raised about $15,000, not including pledges, for the continued work of the Zehr Institute.

After dinner…

Among comedians, a “roast” is a gathering at which a guest of honor is subjected to both praise and good-natured jokes at their expense. Stauffer, dressed in a suit and tie, emceed the evening’s festivities with , a longtime colleague since �ܱ���’s arrival at the in 1996. Jantzi came more appropriately appareled to the podium in the requested “Howard Zehr-styled formal wear:” boots, tan khakis, a tan shirt, a camera slung about his neck and a Indiana Jones-looking hat.

When queried by Stauffer about his neckwear, Jantzi looked at his floral tie and retorted: “This is a tie that’s as ugly as sin. I tried to get one as ugly as Howard would wear, but this is the best I could do.”

First on the program was a panel of alumni roasters, all of whom remarked in some capacity on their strong and shared personal friendship with Zehr, his sense of humor, and quiet way of inspiring confidence and empowerment. Among them was , MA ‘08, now restorative justice coordinator at the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General in Vancouver, Canada, who spoke of becoming �ܱ���’s student one day and shortly after, accepting an invitation to co-present with Zehr at a conference.

“Howard sees something in you before you see it in yourself and he nurtures it until it comes to fruition,” said , MA ‘99, a 14-year veteran of working federal capital cases who is herself a pioneer of an approach called defense-oriented victim outreach.

The youngest member of the panel, MA ‘13, spoke of the in her native Mexico, between Zehr – in Tamaulipas to present the keynote address at the First National Conference of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms – and poet and victims advocate Javier Sicilia, “two men who share similar bodies and souls.”

MA ‘04, contextualized Zehr with a reference to Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point,” which describes three types of “change makers.” “Howard for me is the consummate connector,” said Malec, citing Zehr’s skills in networking between practitioners and connecting his colleagues and students with exciting opportunities.

MA ‘09, took the microphone in “protest” to argue that the breadth and sheer vivacity of Zehr’s creative contributions in a variety of fields do not render him “the grandfather of restorative justice,” as he’s sometimes referred to, but rather “the Lady Gaga of restorative justice!”

, MA ‘06, a founding member of the nonprofit Latino Initiative on Restorative Justice, spoke movingly of �ܱ���’s influence on her personal journey from her native Ecuador and her current work as an educator and training of restorative justice in many Latin American countries.

, which focused on the aging body, took the brunt of several spirited jokes from , MA ‘00. Toews is a former student who has written and co-edited .

Guest Roasters

A panel of guest roasters included nine distinguished colleagues, some of whom wrote or provided video greetings: RJ practitioner honored �ܱ���’s influence in New Zealand, criminologist John Braithwaite sent congratulations from Australia, and �ܱ���’s longtime friend, Bruce Bainbridge, did the same from the State Correction Institution Graterford, where he is serving a life sentence.

, currently co-director of Mennonite Central Committee‘s Office on Justice and Peacebuilding, proclaimed that she had “30 years of stories” to fit into the next three minutes, speeding through Zehr’s powers of suggestion, his fast pace of speech, and his commitment to well-made coffee.

Actor, director, and playwright Ingrid DeSanctis remembered ,” based on Zehr’s book which received a standing ovation from 500 inmates at Graterford Prison in Pennsylvania.

, a mediator and consultant with a history of teaching in Center for Justice and Peacebuilding programs, proclaimed that he and Zehr shared something that nobody else in the room did: both are alumni of Morehouse College, a historically black college in Atlanta, which boasts graduates such as Martin Luther King Jr.

“You carry the mystique of a Morehouse man well,” said Hooker, adding that the “Morehouse man” is “well-read, well-traveled, well-spoken, well-balanced and…” He stopped. “You’ve got to work on well-dressed,” he concluded, to laughter from the crowd.

Kim Workman, director of the New Zealand-based organization Rethinking Crime and Punishment, not only told humorous stories, but played the keyboard and sang an original ditty he called “Ode to Howard.”

The Zehr bobble-head

As the evening drew to a close, �ܱ���’s family joined in the fun. His wife, Ruby, recalled one of their first dates in college, when Howard invited her to the snack shop to share a Coke because he did not have enough money for two. She was followed by Howard’s brother, Ed Zehr, who reminisced about Howard’s boyhood skills tinkering with electronics and gadgets.

When Zehr assumed the stage after 9 p.m., he was met with a standing ovation. Cracking jokes, he recounted the early days of restorative justice work with Canadian colleague David Worth, announcing their next 50-year plan for the field – expansion to a social movement.

At the end of the night, , director of the and mastermind behind the festivities, presented the honoree with a custom Howard Zehr bobble-head doll.

“Ruby says my memorial service is taken care of, so she won’t need to have one when I die,” Zehr reflected afterwards. “I got off pretty easy overall!”

In deference to �ܱ���’s wishes not to be praised, a “roast” has been planned for Zehr, along with a sit-down dinner for anyone who wishes to attend – in fact, the more, the merrier, say organizers.

“If you know Howard, you know that he would not enjoy being the center of attention at a formal gala,” says , executive director of EMU’s . “We’ll honor Howard and his work in the field of restorative justice by sharing a meal and telling humorous and heartfelt stories celebrating his work and the many ways he has touched our lives.” (To attend this limited-seating event, make your reservation by emailing hzroast@emu.edu.)

When writing Changing Lenses, Zehr had no intention of altering the global framework of criminal justice. In the preface to the upcoming edition of the book, Zehr writes that his aim was to create “a book that would encourage us to identify and rethink some of the assumptions we rarely examine and that would help us to begin to dream of other possibilities.”

Changing Lenses has been translated into seven languages; a fresh edition is appearing in June, adding to the 26,000 copies circulating since 1990. Another of his books on the subject, The Little Book of Restorative Justice, has been a bestseller, exceeding 110,000 sold, with more than a dozen translations (often adapted to the local context) circulating internationally.

“His work in restorative justice is seminal,” said , dean of the (UAB) in announcing a new award for Zehr, the . “Over the course of his career he has had an international impact, changing our perception of crime and violations. His work has shifted thinking from the older perception of crime as an act against the state to a more humanistic understanding of crime as a violation of the rights of individuals.”

Australian criminologist offered these words in anticipation of the roast: “No person has done more to inspire the restorative imaginations of citizens of this planet than Howard Zehr. He has been the great teacher who has invited us to sit beside him to see what he can see through his restorative lens.”

As a teacher of restorative justice, Zehr was popular with the 600 enrollees in his CJP courses – with some of them already making plans to come to the roast. (Zehr will be a guest lecturer in the restorative justice classes scheduled for the 2015 .) In his characteristically modest manner, Zehr wrote a last year in which he asked any and all readers for their input on the direction, strengths, weaknesses, and needs of the restorative justice field. If someone sends him an email, he responds personally.

The event will begin with a silent auction and book signing at 4:30 p.m. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m., and the roast will begin at 7 p.m. Proceeds from the silent auction and donations will go toward the at CJP. “Our goal is to raise $50,000 for the Zehr Institute,” said Byler.

All are welcome to this limited-seating event. Reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, with a May 8 final deadline (email hzroast@emu.edu to reserve). To set the tongue-in-cheek tone, guests are encouraged to dress in “Howard Zehr-styled formal wear,” which translates as the clothing that one would wear to photograph wildflowers or rivers in the Shenandoah Valley. To donate an item to the silent auction, send information about the item to hzroast@emu.edu.