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

[Lee Ling Ting]

I am deeply saddened by the passing of Diego.

We were classmates during our time at Peking University.

Diego was a cheerful, approachable, and generous person. His passing is a
great loss to many who knew him.

My deepest condolences to his family and everyone who cherished him as a
friend and colleague. He will be dearly missed.


Sincerely,

Lee Ling Ting

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 3:37 PM Andrew Ollett via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> 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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>>
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