Tilly
I am still in shock over a notice I received today from Karen Cerulo, editor of Sociological Forum, on whose board I sit:
“Dear Colleagues,
Professor Charles Tilly, a member of our editorial board, passed away this morning following a long battle with cancer. Professor Tilly (Chuck) leaves an indelible mark on sociology. His work on theory and comparative historical models are at the core of the sociology literature….
Additional Information is forthcoming from the Columbia sociology department.”
I had one conversation with Charles Tilly, at an airport, after an ASA meeting, while we were both waiting for our airplane to board. We talked about two books he was working on (one on intimate relations; the other, as I recall, was Why?). It was one of the warmest, most intellectually stimulating conversations I have had.
It is truly a great loss. Thank you for informing us of this passing. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family.
Several of us had the great pleasure of sharing the office next to his (Gunther Roth’s old office, I might add) for several years. I never, ever, ever saw the man without a smile on his face, or a kind word to say. Being a good person is far harder, and far more wonderful, than being a good sociologist, and Chuck did both.
They held a candlelight vigil for him tonight, under those office windows. I’m sure I’m not alone when I express my gratitude that he no longer has to fight that dread cancer.
Wow, shocker, big loss indeed.
Sad news.
He was an extraordinary mentor, generous with both times and comments, eagle-eyed, caring, and always brimming with suggestions and citations. He was the twinkliest person I knew, always looking as if he was contemplating some mischief.
Of all the courses I took and syllabi I plowed through all those years ago, his were and are still the most frequently invoked in my own thinking, teaching and work.
He shall be missed as the great teacher that he was and certainly as the towering intellectual contributions he made to the study of the human condition.
[...] Tilly [...]
I thought he was a good man and a lovely colleague. He had a ferocious energy, and a great advocate for his students. He just tried so hard to keep students from falling between the cracks.
I never knew him. But I discovered his writings as I wandered into social movements. I teach with his Why book. I found myself admiring his thinking and writing style so much. What a loss.
Oh no!! What a great loss to many sociologists who took Chuck as a model to emulate but impossible to reproduce. I admired his energy and thinking capacity.
Perhaps the biggest testament to Chuck’s wonderful presence is that he made all of his colleagues and advisees feel important.
You get a sense of this from the volume of internet chatter–on listservs, in private emails, and now increasing on blogs–mourning his loss. That’s no small feat of character, given his towering achievements.
At the end of the day, he was a brilliant man and a committed egalitarian.
I suspect that, despite his best efforts, he’s spawned a series of very durable research programs.
In the public statement released by Columbia University (see a copy in Shakha’s comment here), Adam Ashforth describes Tilly as “the founding father of twenty-first century sociology.” He certainly was a shining light for young social movement scholars like myself.
[...] of praise in honor of the late, great Charles Tilly. As I said in a comment to Mario’s post about Tilly, he truly was a shining light to many younger scholars and he will be missed. I was [...]
[...] memoriam Charles Tilly (Scatterplot, Daniel Little, Crooked Timber, Org Theory, Jacob Levy, Arthur Goldhammer, Jacob Christensen, Daniel Nexon, 3 Quarks Daily). Un texte à lire, [...]