Yes, another sad passing! Indeed it was good karma that led me to Ed Gerow in 1975, when I returned to Chicago from a dissertation-year in Pune and found him newly ensconced up in Harper Tower. He introduced me to the Aṣṭādhyāyī and the Mahābhāṣya and it was a delightful tutorial. We intended to speak only Sanskrit for the year, but that resolve soon dissipated in the heat of our saṃvādas. He became one of the members of my dissertation committee and remained a wry friend in the years after we were both long gone from Chicago. I wrote my paper "Saving buddhis in Epic Mokṣadharma" for his 2015 Festschrift (IJHS, 19: 97-137) with his Huguenot background in mind ("by grace alone, through faith alone"). Learned, astutely penetrating and exacting, he was exceptionally inspiring among the many outstanding teachers I had the privilege of studying with at the University of Chicago.

--
James L. Fitzgerald
Das Professor of Sanskrit, Emeritus
Department of Classics
Brown University





On Thu, Jul 24, 2025 at 11:31 AM Herman Tull via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
This is very sad news. I can only imagine there are many on this list whose lives Prof. Gerow touched, and who benefited from his great erudition.

For those interested, I have attached the brief introduction to the volume Deepak referred to, which includes some details of Edwin Gerow's life and scholarship.

Herman Tull, PhD
Princeton, NJ


On Thu, Jul 24, 2025 at 8:41 AM Deepak Sarma via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
I was fortunate to see Prof. Gerow in January of this year. I was lalso ucky to have studied with him when he taught at Reed College in Portland Oregon. If it were not for him I would not have studied Madhva/ Davita Vedanta.

I am glad that we were able to publish a Festschrift of sorts:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/i24631627

Ācāryasamarpaṇam: Studies in Honor of Edwin Gerow
International Journal of Hindu Studies
Vol. 19, No. 1/2, Special Issue: Studies in Honor of Edwin Gerow (APRIL–AUGUST 2015)

I am very sad indeed but so grateful to have crossed paths with him.

Here he is in January 2025.





Deepak Sarma, Ph.D.
deepaksarma.com

Pronouns: they/them/their

Inaugural Distinguished Scholar in the Public Humanities, Case Western Reserve University

Professor of Religious Studies at Case Western Reserve University, College of Arts and Sciences
Professor of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine (secondary appointment)
President Elect of the Grateful Dead Studies Association
Curatorial Consultant at Cleveland Museum of Art’s Department of Asian Art

Psychedelic Use, Law, and Spiritual Experience (PULSE) Affiliated Researcher
At The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School

Contact:
Dr. Deepak Sarma
Department of Religious Studies
Tomlinson Hall
2121 Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH 44106-7112
216-368-4790
deepak.sarma@case.edu

> On Jul 24, 2025, at 8:01 AM, Lyne Bansat-Boudon via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
> I have just sent the very sad news of Prof Gerow demise, but through a wrong way, and without the proper subject. ( you will find it in the last mail concerning Carmen Spiers' recent book)
> My apologies .
> Best wishes
> Lyne
>
>
> Envoyé à partir de Outlook pour iOS
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
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