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Dear Sarah Lawrence community,
We recently learned that Faculty Emeritus Mason Gentzler passed away earlier this summer.
Mason taught Asian Studies at Sarah Lawrence from 1971 until he retired in 2001. He came to the College from Columbia University, where he received his A.B. in 1951. He then served in the U.S. Army for three years before returning to Columbia to pursue his doctoral degree. Mason began his work in Russian Studies, and then came to East Asian Studies — his dissertation was titled “A Literary Biography of Liu Tsung-yuan.”
Mason’s book A Syllabus of Chinese Civilization was published in 1968 while he was Assistant Professor of Chinese and Japanese at Columbia. When he decided to leave Columbia to come to Sarah Lawrence, he did so because of his commitment to working with undergraduate students, with one of his former colleagues writing of this dedication, “It is a virtue in him …”
In 1988, Mason became the inaugural holder of the Joseph Campbell Chair in the Humanities, an honor he said he felt he did not deserve. On the granting of this chair, colleagues remarked on his breadth of knowledge, work ethic, and humor. His former colleague and friend, Faculty Emeritus Jeff Adams, writes: “Not only did Mason have an exceptional knowledge of matters both east and west, but he possessed an easy and infectious laugh.” Mason came back to campus after he retired, primarily to teach a few courses but also to attend lectures and to join former colleagues for lunch; on those occasions, his booming laugh would resound through Bates dining hall, delighting those in its path.
Kanwal Singh
Provost and Dean of Faculty