Posted May 5, 1999

Professor Emeritus of Classics Kendrick Pritchett, left, chats with Arthur Eckstein, a University of Maryland professor, at a banquet in Pritchett's honor Saturday, May 1 at the Faculty Club. The banquet was preceded by a day-long classics symposium organized to celebrate Pritchett's 90th birthday.

Nearly 20 testimonials were read celebrating Pritchett's long and distinguished career. Most significant to Pritchett were those from the Royal Irish Academy and the British Academy.

"The British Academy congratulates Professor W. Kendrick Pritchett, in recognition of his important contributions to the study of Greek topography, and epigraphy, his transformation of our knowledge of the Greek State at War, and his continuing trenchant contribution to Greek historiography," wrote Academy President Sir Tony Wrigley.

Pritchett came to Berkeley as an associate professor of Greek in 1948, becoming a full professor in 1954. He was chair of the Department of Classics from 1966 to '70 and during that time founded the annual volume, California Studies in Classical Antiquity (now published semiannually as Classical Antiquity).

"It was clear at the time that he was converting the (chairmanship) into something his honorable predecessors had not envisaged," said Professor Emeritus of Classics Thomas Rosenmeyer in a testimonial read at the banquet. "We are all indebted to his labors at that time and later."

Pritchett's devotion to the teaching of Greek was honored through the establishment, upon his retirement in 1976, of the annual Pritchett Prize in Elementary Greek. To celebrate his 90th birthday, the classics department is raising funds to double the endowment of the prize, making it large enough for adoption by the Academic Senate Committee on Prizes. At last count, the department was only $400 away from reaching its goal. Dan Kraus photo.

May 5 - 11, 1999 (Volume 27, Number 33)
Copyright 1999, The Regents of the University of California.
Produced and maintained by the Office of Public Affairs at UC Berkeley.
Comments? E-mail berkeleyan@pa.urel.berkeley.edu.