Dear Reader,
obituaries are an important means to share the memories of a person who has passed away. The writer of the obituary shares his or her knowledge of the deceased and, very often, shares the perceptions and sentiments related to that person. An obituary is thus a pathway to contribute to collective memory by sharing these individual observations and sentiments.
In a scholarly environment, collective memory is the essence of all academic pursuit. Without the achievements (and occasional errors) of our predecessors, meaningful reasoning would be simply impossible. It is thus understandable that writing obituaries is one of the many tasks of a scholar who takes history as the most important source of progress. In this tradition, PIAC members dedicate obituaries to their fellow members who have passed away.
References to obituaries dedicated to the following scholars, but published outside the domain of altaist.org, were added recently.
- Charles Roskelly Bawden (22 April 1924 – 11 August 2016)
- John Andrew Boyle (1916—1978)
- Hok-lam Chan (January 26, 1938 — June 1, 2011)
- Sir Gerard Clauson (April 28, 1891 — May 1, 1974)
- Gerhard Doerfer (March 8, 1920 — December 27, 2003)
- Annemarie von Gabain (July 4, 1901 — January 15, 1993)
- John Gombojab Hangin (1921 — 1989)
- György Hazai (April 30, 1932 — January 7, 2016)
- Walther Heissig (5 December 1913 — 5 September 2005) (multiple obituaries)
- Karl Jahn (1906 — 1985)
- Gunnar Jarring (1907 — 2002)
- Denis Sinor (April 17, 1916 — January 12, 2011)
Oliver Corff, September 13, 2022