Institute pioneer Geetz dies

BY ROBERT STERN

PRINCETON TOWNSHIP -- Clifford Geertz, an eminent cultural anthropologist who played a large role in the evolution of the Institute for Advanced Study in the 1970s, died Monday following heart surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was 80.
Geertz was a prolific author known for his extensive research in Indonesia and Morocco. His appointment in 1970 as a faculty member at the Institute of Ad vanced Study in Princeton Township, where he lived, initiated the formal founding of the institute's School of Social Science three years later.
Geertz made landmark contributions to social and cultural theory that became influential in anthropology and various other fields, including ecology, political science and history.
He worked on religion, especially Islam, as well as bazaar trade, economic development, traditional political structures and village and family life.
"Cliff was the founder of the (institute's) School of Social Science and its continuing inspiration," said fellow professor Joan Wallach Scott in a statement posted by the institute, where Geertz has had emeritus status since 2000. "He changed the direction of thinking in many fields by pointing to the importance and complexity of cul ture and the need for its interpretation."
Institute Director Peter Goddard called Geertz "one of the major intellectual figures of the 20th century" and said that he "re mained a vital force, contributing to the life of the institute right up to his death. We have all lost a much loved friend."
Born in San Francisco, Geertz served in the Navy during World War II and went on to study at Harvard University, where he received his doctorate from the department of social relations in 1956.
He taught at numerous universities over the years, including Oxford, the University of Chicago and Princeton University, where he held an appointment as visiting lecturer with rank of professor in the history department from 1975 to 2000.
He received the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism in 1988 for "Works and Lives: The Anthropologist as Author."
A memorial will be held at the Institute for Advanced Study but details will be announced later.

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