It is with great sadness that the Institute for South Asia Studies announces the passing of Professor Emeritus Thomas Metcalf of the Department of History at UC Berkeley.
Professor Metcalf was a leading scholar of colonial South Asia and Emeritus Sarah Kailath Professor of India Studies. Over a career spanning close to seven decades, he was prolific, the author of many critically-acclaimed books, including:
- The Aftermath of Revolt: India, 1857-1870 (Princeton University Press, 1964)
- Modern India: An Interpretive Anthology (Macmillan Press, 1970).
- Land, Landlords and the British Raj (University of California Press, 1979)
- An Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain's Raj (University of California Press, 1989)
- Ideologies of the Raj (Cambridge University Press, 1995)
- A Concise History of Modern India, co-authored with his wife, historian Barbara D. Metcalf (Cambridge University Press, 2001)
- Forging the Raj: Essays on British India in the Heyday of Empire (Oxford University Press, 2005)
- Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860-1920 (Cambridge University Press, 2008)
Born in 1934, Professor Metcalf was educated at Amherst College, Cambridge University, and Harvard University, and joined the UC Berkeley History Department faculty in 1962. As well as being the recipient of numerous honors and fellowships, Professor Metcalf trained many graduate students who went on to distinguished careers in and beyond academia. Professor Metcalf also served as Faculty Director of the then Center for South Asia Studies (now Institute for South Asia Studies) between 2000 and 2003.
Professor Metcalf is survived by his wife Professor Barbara D. Metcalf, and two sons and their families. Condolence notes can be directed to:
Belmont Village
1100 San Pablo Avenue
Albany, CA 94706
A memorial service will be held in August. More details to follow.
Rest in peace, Professor Thomas Metcalf. You will be long remembered!