David Furley was one of the 20th century’s outstanding scholars of Greco-Roman philosophy. The quantity of Furley’s published output is perhaps modest by today’s standards. But virtually every item is a gem, and many have become classics.

He was educated at Nottingham High School and at Jesus College Cambridge, where he became an Honorary Fellow. In 1947, after war service in Burma and a return to Cambridge to complete his degree, he took up an assistant lectureship in the Departments of Greek and Latin at University College London. Following promotions up to the level of reader, he moved in 1966 to a professorship at Princeton University. He remained there until his retirement in 1992, which was marked with a conference in his honour at the Institute of Classical Studies, London, and not long after by his return to residence in England, at Charlbury in Oxfordshire.

The most recurrent motif of his work was the systematic contrast between two radically opposed philosophical and scientific worldviews, atomism and Aristotelianism, his analyses typically shedding equal light on both traditions. The leading exhibit is undoubtedly his brilliant 1967 book Two Studies in the Greek Atomists. Here he took two central themes of Epicurean atomism and reconstructed the origins of each, above all by minute study of the relevant texts in relation to their Aristotelian background. A model of lucid and judicious scholarship, this monograph did much, perhaps more than any other single book, to bring Epicureanism into the philosophical mainstream.

Another way in which Furley’s work proved seminal lay in his genius for writing a short but incisive article which provoked an entire micro-industry of debate. His classic “Self-movers”, a mere 15 pages in the original 1978 publication, became the focus of a subsequent conference at Pittsburgh, which in turn led to a multi-authored volume (Self-motion from Aristotle to Newton, ed. M.L. Gill and J. Lennox, 1994).

Another such case is “The rainfall example in Physics II.8” (1986), which argued with amazing concision – it weighed in at just six printed pages – that, contrary to the current orthodoxy, Aristotle in fact believed that rainfall is purposive, and not merely the mechanical outcome of meteorological processes. Again, a debate accumulated around the article, with far-reaching implications for Aristotle’s natural philosophy.

A third case is “Lucretius and the Stoics” (1966). Lucretius was one of Furley’s heroes (the Epicurean Latin poet’s eloquent repudiation of the fear of death was read at his funeral). The article, running this time to an impressive 20 pages, presented a major challenge to the orthodoxy that Lucretius’s polemics are typically directed against Stoic rivals. Resistance to this article’s findings has been widespread in Lucretian circles, but it still has its defenders, and the debate remains evenly balanced.

Furley’s services to scholarship were wide-ranging. For example he co-authored with J. S. Wilkie a fine annotated edition, Galen on Respiration and the Arteries (1984); translated the pseudo-Aristotelian On the World for the Loeb Classical Library (1955), as well as parts of Philoponus’s commentary on Aristotle’s Physics (1991); was editor of the journal Phronesis from 1968 to 1972; and also edited, among other collective publications, the second volume of the Routledge History of Philosophy (1997). His final long-term project was a major two-volume work, The Greek Cosmologists. The first volume appeared in 1987, but the eagerly awaited sequel never followed. Meanwhile most of his articles were collected in his 1989 book Cosmic Problems. These succinct masterpieces may well prove to be his most enduring intellectual legacy.

He was widely regarded within the ancient philosophy community as one of the subject’s most brilliant practitioners. He received Princeton University’s Howard T. Behrman Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities in 1984, and was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 1990. From 1969 to 1982 he directed Princeton University’s Program in Classical Philosophy.

In collaboration at first with Gregory Vlastos and Terry Penner, and later with Michael Frede, John Cooper and Alexander Nehamas, he helped build Princeton’s reputation as a world-leading centre for the study of ancient philosophy. While still in the UK he had co-founded the Southern Association for Ancient Philosophy, and in September 2005 he was one of a tiny handful of survivors from the inaugural meeting present in Oxford to help celebrate its 50th birthday.

Furley’s second wife, Phyllis, predeceased him by nine months. They were much-loved figures at Princeton, in and beyond the classics community. The play-readings that they held in their house at Ringoes over a period of 27 years became legendary. He particularly cherished his graduate students, many of whom went on to distinguished careers of their own. He found relaxation in bridge, furniture-making and bird-watching.

He is survived by his first wife Diana and their two sons, John and Bill (the latter himself a classical scholar), by four grandchildren, and by three generations of step-offspring from his second marriage.

Professor David Furley: Celebrated scholar of Greco-Roman philosophy | The Independent (David Sedley).

Samuel M. Paley, Ph. D, an internationally known archaeologist who frequently took University at Buffalo students on digs in the Middle East, died of brain cancer March 31 in his New York City home. He was 68.

Dr. Paley, who led the most recent excavation last summer, had been on leave from the university since his illness was diagnosed before the current semester.

A professor of classics and head of Judaic studies at UB, he conducted digs in Cyprus, Israel and Turkey for more than four decades. He specialized in interpreting Assyrian reliefs and helped create a digital program that brought to life the Northwest Palace of King Ashur-nasir-pal II.

Born in Manchester, N. H., and raised in Boston, Dr. Paley received his undergraduate degree from New York University and his doctorate from Columbia University. He had a lifelong interest in ancient and modern languages.

He joined the UB classics department 33 years ago and founded the Judaic Studies program in 1992.

Dr. Paley published three books about the Northwest Palace, begining in 1976 with “King of the World: Ashur-nasir-pal II of Assyria (883-859 B. C.)” The series documented the ruins with meticulous descriptive detail and architectural renderings.

Later, in collaboration with architects and virtual reality specialists, he produced the virtual version of the museum, which can be viewed by visiting http://www.learningsites.com/ NWPalace/NWPalhome. html.

Dr. Paley also assessed the palaces of Nimrud and Nineveh for conservation projects during the Iraq War and had recently been a consultant for UNESCO World Heritage sites.

A tireless excavator and fundraiser for his projects, he helped uncover a Hellenistic sanctuary and late Bronze Age remains on the Phlamoudhi plain in Cyprus, and he participated in several digs at Tel Nagilah, Tel Arad and Tel Dan in Israel.

He later became co-director of research on early, middle and late Bronze Age settlements in west-central Israel and was part of two projects that explored 6,000 years of civilization in central Turkey.

“Unwavering in the search for excellence and knowledge,” and an entertaining speaker, Dr. Paley mentored hundreds of students and was deeply respected by scholars around the world, his family said.

He was religious director of Temple Emanu-El in Batavia.

Surviving are his wife, Barbara “Bobbi” Koz Paley; three daughters, Raquel, Michal and Avital Lazar-Paley; a stepson, Jamie Koz; and two brothers, David and Norman.

Services were Friday in Manhattan’s Central Synagogue.

via Samuel M. Paley, noted archaeologist, UB professor | The Buffalo News.

Addendum: Dr Paley is also survived by two sons-in-law and three grandchildren.

This is Susan Treggiari’s obituary of Dr. Wells as it appeared in the Canadian Classical Bulletin (used with permission):

Colin Wells died on 11 March, at Bangor in North Wales, with his family around him, after a short illness. He was born on 15 November 1933. After Nottingham High School, where he was very well taught, he went up to Oriel College, Oxford, to read Lit. Hum. After taking Honour Moderations, he interrupted his studies in order to do his military service, during which he was stationed in Egypt and enjoyed early-morning riding in the desert. Returning to Oxford, he completed his Greats work. At this stage, he was especially interested in philosophy. But he nearly opted for a military career. Instead he began his teaching at Beaumont, an appropriate choice as he had become a Roman Catholic at 21. In 1960 he married Kate Hughes, daughter of the novelist Richard Hughes. He was asked by Fr. Etienne Gareau O. M. I. to accept an appointment at the University of Ottawa. After two years’ teaching and the birth of a son, Christopher, Kate and Colin returned to England so that he could start a doctorate in Roman Archaeology under the supervision of Ian Richmond. The seed for his work on the frontiers under Augustus was in an essay he had written as an undergraduate for P. A. Brunt, his tutor, who was a major influence. Another son, Dominic, was born during their two-year stay in England.
Colin served the University of Ottawa with energy, enthusiasm and vision. He was one of the pioneers of an interdisciplinary Classical Civilisation course. He served as chairman of the Department of Classical Studies / Département des Etudes anciennes (overseeing a period of growth) and as Vice-Dean and was secretary to an important committee which reviewed the structures of the university. Concurrently he was editing Echos du monde classique / Classical News & Views. At the same time, he was active in research and participation in learned societies. The Wells house in New Edinburgh was a centre of hospitality for classicists and other guests from all over the world. After over a quarter of a century, he regretfully left Ottawa in 1987 to take up a new and exciting post in Texas as Distinguished Professor at Trinity University, San Antonio. Here, with a new culture to explore, an office big enough for most of his books on Roman history and archaeology and a strikingly elegant house designed for entertaining, he and Kate entered upon a new period of their lives, making new friends while maintaining old contacts. Teaching continued to fascinate and pre-occupy him until he was seventy. At that point, they came back to their house in Oxford, before moving definitively to a house in Normandy, which offered a barn which could become a library. He had always loved France.

An able administrator, Colin served many organisations in the course of his career: the AAH, AIA, APA, CAC, Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautores, the Limes Congresses (he only missed one congress) and others. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and Visiting Professor at Berkeley. He was Visiting Fellow at Brasenose (1973-4) and ever after, as a member of Common Room, enjoyed the hospitality and communal life of the college.

The German Policy of Augustus, the fruit of his work on frontiers, came out in 1972. It was followed by the exceptional introduction, The Roman Empire (1984), which has delighted and stimulated undergraduates ever since. An impressive production of articles in history and archaeology went on all the time, the rhythm accelerated recently, as the history and archaeology of northern France seized his attention. From 1976, initially with the late Edith Wightman, Colin was directing the Canadian team excavating in Carthage, an involvement which continued for over twenty years. His lectures on the dig, delivered in his inimitable style, will be long remembered. He was happily engaged in writing a short history of the Roman army and had just finished the first chapter. A book on the hellenistic period was in view.

A man of manifold interests and warm sympathies, Colin Wells made the most of his exceptionally full life up to the end. He will leave a big gap in the many circles to which he belonged.

All of us offer our sympathy to his wife, sons, grandsons and the whole family.

The funeral will be held on 18 March and there will be a memorial service in July.

Elsewhere:

• Professor Colin Wells: classical historian and archaeologist | Times

From the Northern Echo:

FORMER colleagues will join family and friends at Durham Cathedral for the funeral of a respected classics academic next week.Professor Gavin Townend died following a recent illness at Hallgarth Nursing Home, in Durham City, on Saturday, aged 90.

A widower, he survived his wife, Elspeth, by ten years.Their daughter, Julia, who is in social work, lives in Bristol.Following his wife’s death, Prof Townend formed a relationship with partner Elizabeth Still, with whom he lived until her death in 2007.

Born in Surrey in September 1919, he was educated at Haileybury School and at Merton College, Oxford University.Following the war, he taught at Liverpool University from 1946-66, after which he came to Durham as Professor of Latin for the last 18 years of his working life, up to retirement in 1984.He remained active in the classics field, publishing three books and several articles.Prof Townend was, primarily, an expert in Latin, Latin history and Latin historians.Former colleague, retired ancient historian, Professor PJ (Peter) Rhodes, said: “We like to think we’re the next best classics department after Oxford and Cambridge, and he certainly played his part in that.”

• via Cathedral tribute to respected classics professor (From The Northern Echo).

Kathryn Thomas was the person to go to if you ever needed an ancient recipe, a translation of a Roman tomb inscription or a tour of Grecian antiquities.

Thomas, an associate professor at Creighton University, spent a lifetime studying and teaching the classics to students young and old.

She died of cancer Wednesday at a hospice home, said her friend Rita Ryan, a Latin teacher at Central High School. Thomas was 62.

A service will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Omaha, 9012 Q St.

Thomas, who received her bachelor’s degree from Creighton, had been teaching there since 1974. She was known for taking groups of students on overseas trips, especially to Greece, said Rose Hill, assistant dean of the university’s College of Arts & Sciences.

“Alumni will come back and talk about ‘the year I went to Greece with Dr. Thomas,’” Hill said.

William J. Napiwocki, an adjunct professor of Latin at St. Joseph College Seminary in Illinois and a longtime friend of Thomas’, said she had wanted to retire in Greece. “It was just a shame she died so young,” Napiwocki said.

Ryan said Thomas was diagnosed with cancer in May 2009 and had to stop teaching last fall.

Thomas, who grew up in Omaha, earned her master’s degree and doctorate from Loyola University in Chicago.

She was associate vice president of academic affairs at Creighton from 1993 to 1996. Thomas was active in numerous national organizations related to the study of classics and received many fellowships, honors and grants for her studies.

Omaha schools and organizations often tapped her expertise. She taught minicourses on subjects like ancient foods and medicine for the Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha, helped high school classes with the nuances of Latin, organized state high school Latin conventions and hosted prominent archaeologists who visited Nebraska for speaking engagements.

Her broad knowledge allowed her to teach world literature at Creighton and medical terminology to pre-med students there.

Thomas had been active at her Greek Orthodox church, running the church’s bookstore after services, Ryan said.

Survivors include her brothers, Joseph Thomas of Hancock, Iowa, and John Thomas of Verdigre, Neb.

via Omaha World Herald.