It is with incredible sorrow that I write to share the news that we lost Neil Smith in the early hours of this morning. He had been hospitalized on Wednesday afternoon with organ failures, and despite some moments of hope, could not greet another day with us. Words cannot describe this sudden tragedy. Neil was larger than life, brilliant, an inspiration and loved by so many.
I will provide the CPCP community with further updates as they are available. You can still share your thoughts at http://pcp.gc.cuny.edu/2012/09/neil-smith/.
With deepest regrets and many tears, Padmini
Listening to Neil speak at AAG and Critical Geography conferences was an intellectual inspiration and aural delight. What a voice we’ve lost.
Make sure you take a bottle of wine for this one, mate. Love.
A huge loss. Neil’s work, personality and political energy was inspirational to me and many others. I really appreciate the encouragement and support he gave over the years. He leaves a tremendous legacy in words and in the people who he’s influenced, but will be very much missed. An amazing person.
Neal combined the incisive cool reason of the Scottish enlightenment tempered with the wit and irony of the post colonial Gael. I lift a parting glass to you Neal. You leave a void behind your going. slainte.
Allen Feldman
Sending love to all who loved Neil and his work.
Sitting here in Santa Cruz with Margaret Fitzsimmons talking about our memories of Neil. Margaret remembers being transfixed as a graduate student by Neil presenting his early thoughts on the production of nature at the LA AAGs in the early 1980s and by many of his presentations and publications since. I remember meeting him in San Antonio (was that 1981?), the way in which his work on nature influenced me, and have many wonderful memories of trips involving a lot of birdwatching in Oaxaca, southern Africa and Arizona. We are so sad that his brilliance and warmth is gone.
Rest in peace Neil, thank you for all you helped me with, and for all the ideas you challenged us to think on.
A tragedy. My heart goes out to all those who knew him well, and whose loss is so much greater.
A great shock. A huge loss. But Neil – thank you for all you gave us with tremendous energy, industry, and critical commitment.
Terribly sad news…Neil spoke in Vancouver just a few years back and was vibrant…His were some of the most supple and creative perspectives on globalisation and gentrification…
What a terrible loss, Neil. Your work was transformative to so many, including myself. Our thoughts are with you in a new place…
Very fond memories . . . and words fail. Neil, your intellect and wit will be so incredibly missed. We are so much the richer for having known, heard, and read you.
Neil, I will forever miss your smile and that twinkle in your eye. But as we all can see from the above and what will come below, you live on in all of us and we are all better for it. If only we could have another pint.
We go back together a long time, to the first stirrings of gentrification in Philadelphia and Baltimore. You have accomplished so much, Neil, and taught so many. What a loss!
A great mind, a great spirit, a great legacy. So sad. Rest in peace.
Envío mis condolencias por el fallecimiento del profesor Neil Smith.
Such a great loss for so many. Goodbye Neil.
What a huge loss of a lively, warm, brilliant colleague.
Neil was a brilliant researcher, a fine writer, and a warm interlocutor. My heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and CUNY community.
We’ve gained so much from Neil’s life. How immense the loss. I would never have engaged geography if it weren’t for Neil. May his colleagues… students… and his students students… be forever inspired by his work and politics.
You were an absolute inspiration! You’ll be missed dearly.
The ripples of this tragic news are felt down here in the Antipodes. Neil, you made a huge contribution, your passing leaves a huge hole for us to try and fill, and your work and spirit provide us with a huge inspiration to keep going in our activist scholarship. My condolences go out to those that were close to Neil through family, friendship and professional relationships.
I will so miss Neil’s exuberance and humour, his clear mind, even his macho debating style. I first knew him when he was an undergrad at St. Andrews in Scotland. In someways, he always retained that freshness and enthusiasm for life. We leaves a huge gap for all of us to fill, as did Jim Blaut some years ago. We must redouble our struggles for justice, and we must laugh a lot and cherish each other, and children, in order to continue his presence.
Shocking news. I’m so sorry Neil that you didn’t live longer. From the outside it seemed a brilliant life. Certainly you were brilliant.
You wouldn’t remember it but you let me sleep on the floor of your hotel room twice at different AAGs. The first time you didn’t know me from Adam, and the second time, you had profoundly disagreed with me at an earlier session. But none of that made a difference. Thank you for your generosity in every way. Geography will not be the same without you.
Neil was such an important thinker; but also a vital, funny, warm, and generous person. His dedication to the intersection of activism and theory was very influential for me. It is very sad to lose him.
Noël
What shocking news and a devastating loss to our discipline of geography and to the field of urban studies. You left too soon.
So sad to hear..you’re a massive inspiration and will be greatly missed!
Neil,
We miss you, and we will never forget you. You taught me so much, and I am humbled to have been part of the vast multitude who learned from you — from your writing, your public presentations, your hard work and organizing behind the scenes to make rigorous, radical scholarship possible and transformative. Another world is possible, and you’ve helped us get closer to it, while sustaining the energy and enthusiasm of a new generation; who amongst us has not run into countless others with “Neil stories” that help us see and understand our worlds and our places in insightful, critical, and empowering ways? Yesterday, I spent many hours in meetings with students, and many of them are more anxious than ever in the maelstrom of the neoliberal sausage factories that you, Neil, have helped us to understand — and to work to transform. As I see the brilliance and integrity in my students, and as I work to support them, I realize how much I’m drawing on your inspiration and guidance. Your commitments will continue to mobilize and inspire us all — I, and my students, are indebted to you in so many ways. And we will always miss you.
It was such a joy and honor to have known Neil for a short time. Of all of the things about him that I’m remembering and celebrating today, one that keeps returning to mind was his refreshing lack of cynicism. Along with that towering intellect and always generous spirit, I’ll miss Neil’s remarkable ability to be truly moved by the people and events around him. He moved so many of us in turn.
What a sad day. Neil’s energy, warmth and brilliance will be greatly missed.
Neil, I remember discussing with you the potential utility of Foucaultian thought in understanding the economic crisis in the context of the 2008 US Presidential election. At the now defunct Green Room in Toronto, of all places. Throughout the years, every time I saw you during your many visits to Toronto, you never failed to give me a warm hug and ask me how I’m doing. I will never forget our conversations over drinks and your many many words of encouragement.
You’re a stalwart of the discipline, your immense contributions preceded only by your warmth, generosity and friendship. Today, we celebrate your life and mourn our loss.
A great friend, a great mind, and a great loss. Knew a lot about American popular music too, a great surprise.
I was with Neil’s book in my hands when I got the news – really sad for all of us who have been inspired by your talent… Geography has lost one of its brightest thinkers…
Neil, thanks so much for all you did. This is far too soon and you will be sorely missed. May you rest in peace and your work continue to inspire.
Hail & farewell.
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Dear Neil,
During my undergrad I kept your book, The New Urban Frontier, close because it was one of the few readings that I found critical, articulate and passionate. By the out-pour of comments it is clear that you and your work has transformed our lives. I did not have too many encounters with you, but each was thrilling and enriching as you shared your thoughts as both a scholar and a passionate human who had clearly sparked the locomotive in critical urban geography.
Thank you for being such a generous and thoughtful scholar. The advances you and your work have made in the critical social sciences lives in your peers, your students and this one starry eyed girl that still reads your work for inspiration.
Thank you for the imprint you have made in all our lives.
Sad news. I only met Neil for the first time at the New York AAGs this year, on the Lower East Side at the Ace Bar; but I had known and appreciated his work for a long time. A prolific and towering intellect.
This news is both shocking and deeply painful news. Neil was indeed a towering figure. I will always be grateful for the attention, support, and encouragement he found time to provide me over the years. I know he did the same for many, many others. What a huge loss for us all.
Sad and shocking news. Talking to Neil for the first time back in 1999 as a student and solitary radical in German geography was incredibly encouraging and important to me. I may have taken a more cowardly path without having met him.
Rest in peace Neil.
Neil was an extremely kind and generous person, as well as a brilliant scholar and committed activist. It’s hard to believe he’s no longer with us. He will be deeply missed.
Neil – you have left us far too soon. It was a joy to know you. You were extraordinary and we will miss you so very much.
Can’t believe what happened to all of us. Good-bye Neil. You taught me what meant to study. It was good to know you and study with you. With deepest sorrow, Kyeongsu
This is such tragic news and is so sad. RIP, Neil. You will be sorely missed but never forgotten!
what a tragic loss. Thankfully his copious and potent body of work can continue to touch us
I am shocked and deeply saddened. At a time when we needed him most.
I heard the news with shock and dismay. A great loss to geography – and the world is poorer with his passing.
This is unbearably sad. I am so glad that our paths crossed and that I had the chance to know you. My heart goes out to you.
Neil will be very dearly missed by everyone who learned from his exemplary work, and also by those who knew his warmth and love. . .