Condolences

It was with profound sadness that we learned of the death of Anthony Smith, Emeritus Professor in Ethnicity and Nationalism in the LSE Department of Government, this week.

ANTHONY D. SMITH (1939-2016) was Emeritus Professor of Nationalism and Ethnicity at the London School of Economics, President of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism, and Founding Editor of Nations and Nationalism. He was one of several LSE scholars (who included Ernest Gellner and Elie Kedourie) who made seminal contributions to the theory and comparative study of nationalism. More than anyone else, however, he established nationalism as a separate interdisciplinary field of study by his magisterial overviews that helped create common definitions and classifications through which the different frameworks could be understood.

He published seventeen books translated into twenty two languages, and over one hundred articles and chapters in books on nations, nationalism and ethnicity, in which he developed his ethno-symbolic approach. His main publications included The Ethnic Revival (1981), The Ethnic Origins of Nations (1986), National Identity (1991), Nationalism and Modernism (1998), Chosen Peoples (2003), The Cultural Foundations of Nations (2008), and The Nation Made Real (2013). Another book on music and nationalism is in production.

Through his undergraduate and MSc courses and doctoral workshop, he made the LSE in Walker Connor’s words ‘the Mecca’ for the teaching of and research into nationalism. He, with his doctoral students, established the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) which for over 25 years has hosted annual conferences on nationalism at LSE, established two leading journals, and in honour of his teacher, Ernest Gellner, an annual lecture series. He was a dedicated supervisor and many of his students have attained chairs at leading institutions. After his retirement from the Government Department in 2004, he struggled with great tenacity against a debilitating illness. In spite of this, he continued to publish prolifically, to act as editor of Nations and Nationalism, and to support his Professorial successor, John Breuilly, in maintaining the position of nationalism at LSE. He leaves behind a wife and young son.

Dr John Hutchinson
Associate Professor (Reader) in Nationalism, Department of Government

If you would like to post a tribute to Anthony; leave your condolences or share any memories you have of him please comment on this post.

It is with the deepest sadness that we announce the death on 12 February 2016 of Maurice Fraser, former Head of the European Institute.

A personal message from Professor Craig Calhoun, President and Director of LSE:

Maurice Fraser was a friend of LSE from his days as a student through his career in public life to his return as a distinguished leader in the European Institute. Charming, gracious, and a witty conversationalist he brought wide and practical knowledge to the School. He will be sorely missed, not least in the context of the current debates over Europe, on which an LSE Commission he helped found will soon report.

Maurice’s ties to the School stretch over a long period: having been an undergraduate in Government, he returned after 1995 to teach in what was then the new European Institute.  He became Head of the European Institute in 2013, but was obliged to step down in December 2015 owing to ill-health.  Maurice was Professor in Practice, having served as special advisor to three successive British foreign secretaries during the tumultuous historical period of 1989-1995, amongst other posts.  Maurice had wide professional experience, being a member/trustee/chair of a range of public bodies.  Of special importance to him was his work on Europe and, in particular, Anglo-French relations.  He had been educated at the Lycee Francais de Londres and he became Vice-Chair of the Franco-British Council and a contributing editor to ‘Valeurs Actuelles’, a French weekly.  At LSE, he was the Programme Director for the European Institute’s double Masters’ degree with Sciences-Po.  He was made Chevalier de la Legion d’ honneur in 2008 and Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia in 2015.

Maurice receiving the award of Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia from the Italian Ambassador to the UK on 7 December 2015

Maurice was the long-term Director of the LSE’s public lecture series on Europe, utilising his extensive professional experience and contacts to make the School the premier UK platform for public debate on Europe.  He was a devoted teacher and was inspired to help bridge the gap between the practical world of policy-making and that of academe for successive generations of the European Institute’s students.

Maurice was widely liked and admired, by both staff and students and across public life.  He was very well-read and had a range of intellectual interests.  Discussion with him was often stimulating, sometimes maddening, but always courteous and fun.  He was a supportive and respectful colleague and he loved LSE.  Latterly, he gave everything to the European Institute – endeavouring to carry on as Head, despite his deterioration and amidst much stress.  It had been his dearest wish to attend last December’s Graduation Ceremony to announce the names of his beloved graduands, but alas this was already not feasible for him.  His family background and his professional experience made Maurice a committed and life-long ‘European’ in his political orientation.  His legacy of service to LSE will ensure that he always remain a cherished part of the European Institute community.  We will all miss him terribly.

The European Institute has received many, many warm personal messages of sympathy from his friends – from across British and European academic and public life – and these reflect Maurice’s character and stature.  Maurice’s family are inviting donations to the Brain Tumour Charity, in lieu of flowers – www.justgiving.com/mauricefraser

Our thoughts and prayers are with Maurice’s family.

Professor Kevin Featherstone

Head, European Institute

Professor Christian Lequesne,of Sciences Po in Paris, has written an obituary for Maurice Fraser in French newspaper Le Monde.

If you would like to post a tribute to Maurice; leave your condolences or share any memories you have of him please comment on this post.

 – for Amber,
for the sake of whose difference I would gladly forsake all the sameness in the world….

I met Amber when I was interviewed for the job of Support Specialist – Assistive Technologies at London School of Economics in 2010. The day involved a brief exam in general IT, an interview, where James Hargrave, my line manager Adam Gale, and the head of Disability and Well-being Service, Nicola Martin were present; and the delivery of a Keynote presentation, the theme being ‘Over the next 5 years, what should universities aim to achieve by way of IT provision and support for students and staff with disabilities?’ As part of my presentation, I commented that I was, and remain, concerned, that many students and staff with disabilities are under-supported when trying to access learning materials with the appropriate software potentially available to them, either by poor and inaccessible web design or otherwise. One of Amber’s immediate replies asked if the LSE website was one such site. This definitely caught me off guard, but I had to be honest, and reply that like other Higher Education Institutions at that time, and other organisations, much time and work needed to be invested.

Suffice to say, I was offered the position on the day of the interview, which I accepted, and started on 01 March, 2010 – three years ago this week.

I already knew that Amber was very well regarded and had been at LSE for many years and was at that time one of the three Executive Directors of the then IT Services, and she was really helpful to me in getting settled in. I was very soon asked to visit the first iansyst conference at the University of Cambridge, and shortly after, the next UCISA (Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association) conference.

After this, Amber and I met to catch up, and we agreed that an audit of IT Services for students and staff with disabilities would be appropriate, with a view to benchmarking against similar Higher Education Institutions. This really encouraged me, knowing that I had an ally with a very similar outlook on how to potentially approach the problems faced within this sector, and how to work towards hopefully resolving some of them, with knowledge collection and sharing.

So, in the time I had the good fortune I worked with Amber at LSE, she was one of my senior bosses. We worked closely together and shared some difficult times. Typically we would get coffee from Pret and sometimes lunch. Amber always having a soya cappuccino with sweetener.  We shared a love for decent coffee, gadgets and a good few drinks when the opportunity presented itself as it frequently did at UCISA conferences. Later we both became avid social media users, particularly of Twitter.

My abiding memory of Amber is of her wearing her red coat and clutching her iPhone. That and (in a typical Amber paradox) a fountain pen!

Typically smiling, Amber always had time for people and a genuine interest in their lives. We shared a connection with Bath, my previous home town prior to my relocation to London. What will always make me smile was Amber’s unwavering ability to remember details, and the way she treated her colleagues as human beings, and not mere cogs in the machine, and as a consequence was extremely well regarded.

Amber combined this human touch with a strong competitive streak and a determination that you would not, perhaps, guess just by looking at her. I think it was the combination of these two things that enabled her to get things done. She would have an idea, talk about it, convince people and it would actually happen.

To add here that I obviously succeeded in getting the job I applied for is something I will honour and cherish for all time. Amber shared my passion for equality of access to learning resources, whatever the barrier, and actively encouraged anything that would reduce those obstacles, and for this, I applaud her.

On the day of Amber’s funeral, in the small Suffolk village of Thrandeston, where those closest to her went to “honour, cherish and bury” Amber, and then celebrate her life in a nearby pub in a way that Amber would, I am sure, approve of.  And whilst she leaves a huge hole in the lives of us all I feel privileged to have called Amber a friend and my life was better for knowing her. I know I am not alone. Whilst I was not able to be there myself, Amber was certainly with me in my thoughts that day.

At LSE and amongst the wider higher education community and amongst her friends and family I know there are many people feeling the same and that says it all.

If you would like to donate to Cancer Research in memory of Amber, you can do so here
Visit the virtual scrapbook in memory of Amber at http://www.ambermiro.org


Amber Miro was Assistant Director of IT Services at the London School of Economics and a member of the UCISA Executive. You can read the UCISA announcement of Amber’s death.