Timothy Wickham-Crowley
1951–2021
It is with heavy hearts that the sociology faculty and the greater Georgetown University community mourn the loss of Associate Professor Timothy Wickham-Crowley, who passed away on October 30, 2021.
Wickham-Crowley earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University (AB magna cum laude, 1973) and a PhD from Cornell University (1982). He taught at Georgetown from 1986 to 2020, where he was an associate professor of sociology. He chaired that department from 2011 to 2016. From 2002 to 2007, he served as the MA program director for Latin American Studies. For more than 25 years, he taught a broad range of courses, covering topics on political sociology, Latin American societies, population dynamics, and social inequality.
Wickham-Crowley was an acclaimed teacher. In 1991, he was nominated by Georgetown students and selected to become an honorary faculty member of Alpha Sigma Nu, the Honor Society of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. He was twice nominated by seniors in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service for teaching awards. In 2008, he received from the College of Arts and Sciences the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Wickham-Crowley’s scholarly interests included Latin American guerrilla movements and social revolutions, and development and underdevelopment in the Americas since 1500. He authored more than a dozen articles and chapters on guerrilla movements and revolution, with articles appearing in Social Forces, Comparative Studies in Society and History (twice), Social Science History, Politics & Society, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Political Power and Social Theory, Theory and Society, Latin American Research Review, and (in translation) Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée and América Latina Hoy. Several of his articles and book chapters have been reprinted in English or Spanish in collected writings on revolution.
In addition, Wickham-Crowley was a contributor and member of the editorial board for The Encyclopedia of Political Revolutions (Congressional Quarterly 1998). He also contributed the essays and reviews on “Central America—Sociology” for the Handbook of Latin American Studies (nos. 57, 59, 61), and authored two monographs, Exploring Revolution: Essays on Latin American Insurgency and Revolutionary Theory (Routledge 1991) and Guerrillas and Revolution in Latin America: A Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes since 1956 (Princeton University Press 1992). The latter book was nominated for several awards, including LASA’s Bryce Wood Book Award. In addition, he served as program chair of the Latin American Studies Association’s (LASA) 21st International Congress (1998), and subsequently served a three-year term on LASA’s Executive Council and was nominated to run for vice-president of LASA in 2012.
Wickham-Crowley will be deeply missed by his colleagues, students, and the Georgetown community.
Georgetown University
Sam Oliner
1930–2021
Humboldt State University (HSU) is saddened to share the loss of Samuel P. Oliner, professor emeritus of sociology. Born in Zyndranowa, Poland in 1930, Oliner endured the Holocaust, surviving with the help of a Polish family who risked their lives to save him. After the war, Oliner immigrated to England and then to New York City. He fought in the Korean War and received the Bronze Service Star, National Defense Service Medal, and Presidential Unit Citation for his service.
In 1956, Oliner married his wife, Pearl. They pursued their PhDs at the University of California-Berkeley and later became professors at HSU. A central theme throughout Oliner’s scholarship has been the importance of kindness and courage. He authored many publications on the Holocaust, altruism, prosocial behavior, and race/ethnic relations, and lectured widely in the United States and other countries on the topic of rescuers of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. In 1982, together Oliner and his wife launched the Altruistic Behavior Institute at HSU, dedicated to seeking out ways to enhance altruism and prosocial behavior in society. Oliner’s latest book, What Kind of Future Will Our Children Inherit?,wascoauthored with Ronnie Swartz and published by Humboldt State University Press in January.
“With the passing of my friend and colleague Sam Oliner, we have lost a person who, despite his own life experiences, always offers us a very hopeful vision of the future. I will miss him,” says Sing C. Chew, professor emeritus of sociology.
Pearl Oliner, an HSU professor emerita of education, died earlier this year. Humboldt State University is honored and privileged to have known the Oliners. Their friendship, compassion, and wisdom brought light to our world and helped us all better understand and improve humanity.
The family’s obituary can be read here.
Humboldt State University
