[INDOLOGY] Diego Loukota (16 April 1985 – 17 March 2024)

[Andrew Ollett]

This is really devastating news. Diego was a brilliant, energetic, and
generous scholar, and I always found his work to be both philologically
astute and exciting. Certainly he was already on the way to transforming
our understanding of the literary history of North India and Central Asia
in the early first millennium CE. I feel very lucky to have shared some
time with him.

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 2:03 PM Richard G. Salomon via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear Friends,
>
> Truly a sad and bitter loss to our scholarly community as well as, of
> course, to Diego's family and friends. He was a truly gifted scholar who
> would certainly have gone on to great things. Condolences to everyone who
> is affected by this tragedy.
>
> Rich Salomon
>
> On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 11:32 AM Stefan Baums via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Our dear friend and colleague Diego Loukota has passed away. Even
>> in his last days, the fields of study to which he gave so much
>> were in his thoughts, and he asked for the following obituary to
>> be shared with you.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Diego Loukota, Assistant Professor in Indian and Central Asian
>> Buddhism at UCLA, died at the age of 38 on Sunday, March 17th,
>> 2024 in his home in Santa Monica, California, surrounded by family
>> and friends. He had been diagnosed with an incurable and
>> aggressive form of brain tumor (glioblastoma) in March 2023. Diego
>> was a proud husband to his colleague Stephanie Balkwill, Assistant
>> Professor of Chinese Buddhism at UCLA, and father to 8-year-old
>> Remedios, as well as a proud citizen of Guatemala, Colombia, and
>> Canada. He continued his activity as instructor, graduate
>> supervisor, and researcher throughout the course of his illness up
>> until the end of 2023, when his physical limitations made work
>> difficult and secondary to end-of-life considerations.
>>
>> Diego had unfinished studies in Classics and Music (cello) from
>> the National University of Colombia, a BA in Asian History from
>> the University of Bologna in Italy, and an MA in Sanskrit and Pāli
>> from Peking University, where he also studied Khotanese and
>> Gāndhārī under the late Prof. Duan Qing; after this he completed
>> his doctoral studies under Prof. Gregory Schopen in Buddhist
>> Studies at UCLA.
>>
>> Diego focused on the philological treatment of unpublished
>> documents, fragments, and inscriptions in Central Asian languages,
>> with an eye to their contribution to the history of Buddhism and
>> of the Silk Road.
>>
>> If you would like to contribute a personal reminiscence or
>> anecdote to be shared at an upcoming memorial event at UCLA,
>> please write it in this thread or write to his wife Stephanie at
>> balkwill at humnet.ucla.edu.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> --
>> Stefan Baums, Ph.D.
>> Institut für Indologie und Tibetologie
>> Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München
>>
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