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. We invite you to share your thoughts below.
With deepest regrets and many tears, Padmini
Neil,
Your loss to the left and to urban anthropology and geography is indescribable. I will miss our rare get-togethers for the intellectual and political inspiration you gave me and for how it was inextricably connected to your brilliance, well-honed Scottish sense of ironic humor, and underlying sense of joy in life.
Rest well, my friend. You’ve given me much to live up to.
Don
Very shocked. Neil was always so supportive of my own efforts to understand the geography of capitalism, even as those efforts implicitly critiqued some of his ideas. Always supportive of students.
Along with a legion of friends and scholars indebted to his incisive writings, I will greatly miss Neil, his generous friendship and enthusiasm, and his commitment to trying to make the world a less bad place.
Neil’s untimely death is a great shock and a great loss to geography and urban studies in general. His contribution has been remarkable. As everyone who knew him can testify, he was a very warm, friendly and humorous person who never lost his political commitment. Although we had some intellectual spats these never interfered with our friendship and we had some memorable times together at a variety of conferences and gatherings over the years.We will all miss him a great deal but his work and his memory will endure. Above all, he was always fun and stimulating to be with.
I came to know Neil through another brilliant geographer, Graciela Uribe. They were my teachers and friends, and both of them have gone now. I celebrate your life, and my hope is with you, with your humanity, your ideas, your stubbornness, and your capacity to share with others. I will always miss you.
A great loss. We never met but uou were always a source of inspiration. I guess the best homage we can all make to you is build on your work, a definite contribution to our common struggle.
Salut i memòries Neil,
Marc Morell
Big man, big ideas. ‘Uneven spatial development’ is everywhere, and this is one of Neil’s enduring legacies to understanding the world.
I had no idea Neil had died and that he was so young. I still remember an east coast grad student conference in about 1988 at Rutgers, when we came down from Clark.
Condolences. There will be sadness, not sunshine, in Leith.
I’ve been working on my PhD on Mexico city’s gentrification since 2008. Thank you for bringing the debate to my mind, your radicalism make my closer to geography and society.
Buen camino !
The Hong Kong Critical Geography Group (HKCGG) mourned the passing of the well-known Geographer Neil Smith, who died on 29th September, 2012, at the age of 58.
Prof. Smith was one of the most influential figures in the field of Critical Geography. Among others, his writings on uneven development and gentrification have long been regarded as one of the theoretical cornerstones on understanding of the perpetuation of the socially under-privileged positions of the grassroots and of the developing world. Besides, he was active in social practices, not only by himself, but also via generations of students and activists so inspired by him.
Prof. Smith was first invited to speak to the Hong Kong audience in December, 2003. Last December, HKCGG invited him to give a talk entitled “Revanchist City, Revanchist Planet”. We were inspired by his insights and amazed at his openness to criticism from the developing world. After the talk, we visited the ‘Occupy Central’ movement in Hong Kong. He listened enthusiastically to the movement and proposed to connect it with the similar one in New York. This showed his great care to the humanity of people this part of the world. In sum, his insight, enthusiasm, openness, comradeship, etc. will forever be with us.
We mourned the loss of a great comrade!
Dear Neil:
… a life force, the courage to contest just about everything…even if for the sport of thinking, and a ready burst of laughing…that is what i recall when I first hear you talk about your work. I felt….yes, the academy might not be as bad as it had seemed till then…The sadness of knowing you are no longer here…..saskia
I woke up this morning to this, terrible, terrible news. Years before I met him as a student and then colleague, Neil Smith was an constant inspiration and guiding light. We lost a brilliant comrade and a remarkable, generous human being. My thoughts are with his close friends and family members.
Your time was short, but you packed so much into it. Your legacy includes a major branch of the discipline and generations of scholars. Your loss is mourned, but your memory will be celebrated.
Neil, I only knew you from your work. I always felt humbled.
We (the field and I) will miss you and your words – both were pure inspiration.
RSanders
What terrible news. My sincere condolences to your family and friends. You will be greatly missed.
As a PhD student in 1992, I knew Neil personally in São Paulo, Brazil, and can remember him as a superb lecturer, but also as a curious birdwatcher (always observing the trees around the University of São Paulo campus), and as a very fair and sweet person. In my country, he left friends and admirers.
What a sad shock for so many people who new Neil personally or through his writings. Thank you for all you have given us. Your ideas live on and we will keep the red flag flying!
It is so unbelievably sad that Neil has lost his last essential fight.
I owe Neil so much that I still cannot put in words this incredible sadness. He was a person with a big heart and perhaps the greatest teacher I’ve ever had. I know that sparks of Neil’s spirit and brilliance will live on within the people for whom he was so selflessly generous over the years, but this seems so insignificant right now. Thank you and good bye, Neil.
I owe Neil so much that I still cannot put in words this incredible sadness. He was a person with a big heart and perhaps the greatest teacher I’ve ever had. I know that sparks of Neil’s spirit and brilliance will live on within the people for whom he was so selflessly generous over the years, but this seems so insignificant right now. Thank you and good bye, Neil.
I still cannot believe it. I had the pleasure to participate in his last Urban Revolutions seminar – which was one of the best seminars I ever participated – and I remember how happy he was about it, how energizing were the discussions both for us and for Neil. Neil, we will do further and you’ll be proud of us!
yoldaşımızı sonsuz saygılarımı sunar anısı önünde hürmetle eğiliyorum, sen rahat uyu yoldaş komünist düşünceler bu dünyada daha çok gelişecek hoşça kal iki gözüm, hoşça kal.
Very sad. Huge loss for geography. Neil was brilliant and generous.
Neil,
At this moment I remember many things. The last time we worked together was the Free University of Occupy May Day in Madison Square Park. I have learned a lot about discovering the power of refusal from your works and activities.
RIP.
Ikuo
Remembering Prof Neil Smith
29 September 2012
Amidst the tensions, struggles of the mid-1980s, especially in South Africa, I have had the pleasure of being introduced to Neil Smith, by means of his copious writings on the urban problematique. His incisive analyses of prevailing contradictions in USA cities and elsewhere, and their generative nature vis-à-vis urban social movements, pretty much reinforcing/anticipating the oeuvre of Manuel Castells, guided my own research. Accordingly, when I arrived in the USA as a PhD student, in mid-1986, I have had the privilege to contact and meet with him at Rutgers University, where he readily shared his insights into my research topic “Urban Social Movements in Metropolitan Cape Town, South Africa”. Not merely was his correspondence with me reassuring, his guidance reinforced my perspectives on social change, not only in cities, but, by extension, in society at large. His pioneering work will forever resonate in the lives of those who have to make sense and transcend the contradictions of a moribund capitalist system. Long live the memory and work of Prof Smith!
Prof John J Williams, Ph D (Illinois, USA)
Professor: Governance & Development Planning
School of Government
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535
South Africa
E-mail:jjwilliams@uwc.ac.za (work)
E-mail: jayjayconslt@telkomsa.net (home)
I never got a chance to tell you your work on scale and metaphor, alongside Adrienne Rich’s writings on the body, were the reason I became a geographer at all. Now you’re both gone. This has been a hard year.
Thank you for your courage, generosity, wit, and genuine curiosity — all rare gifts you shared with panache. I just can’t believe you’re gone.
A major loss. He will be missed.
Such a terrible, sad loss. We only met a few times, but I remember being dazzled by the intellectual energy, the profoundly visionary social commitment, and the pure joy of thinking critically. These things endure, as well as the love you shared with so many, as testified by the comments. You will continue to permeate the world with vital joy.
I was shocked and deeply saddened to hear this tragic news. Farewell my friend Neil, you will be dearly missed. I am so glad I got to know you, you were a real mensch.
Uneven Development illuminated the mechanics of space and place for me. It’s one of those books that I can return to again and again for lessons that are as fresh with each new reading as they were the first time I encountered them. I would mourn Neil’s passing for that book alone. But he was also just an incredibly nice, generous guy whose encouragement during my thesis years jump-started my career. For that I will be eternally grateful. And it is clear to me from the outpouring of sentiment here, what he did for me he did for many. What a loss is his passing.
“…the contours of disaster and the difference of who lives and who dies is to a greater or lesser extent a social calculus.”
– Neil Smith
Neil advised me to go beyond the confines of group-think, get out of the grip of the society-imposed and hegemonic ways of understanding social experiences and political processes. He noted on one my essays the importance of rising above the comfort of relying only on statistical information and empirical observations in analyzing the impacts and changes that are caused by human activities on environmental resource systems. Neil’s thinking has offered me a thoughtful and way of introspecting and situating human-environment relations, marginal group experiences, societal processes and political dynamics in the occurrence of environmental hazards and disaster events.
My daughter and I had the rare privilege of knowing him during our formative years – when Joey was growing up as a young child in New Jersey, and when I was beginning to chart my own way of analytical thinking in Rutgers in the early 1990s. Rest in peace, Neil.
Cher Neil,
It was my incredible luck to cross paths with you when I discovered geography. There isn’t one step of the way I have followed since that has not been influenced by your hopeful, raging, daring way of looking at the world.
You are among those rare people who can bring things together with both love and rage. You were luminous, hilarious, poetic, and insanely loveable.
Avec toute mon amitié, Caroline
To be Neil’s student even briefly was to be shown an entirely new set of possibilities for thinking and engaging the world. It was also to be shown the tremendous spirit that he possessed and shared joyously. A great loss.
I am very sad to hear that Neil has passed away. He was a passionate advocate for social and spatial justice, always cheerful and generous in sharing his ideas with all of us. His spirit will live on in all the young geographers who have been inspired by his work.
Priya Rangan
I can’t believe you’re gone. It doesn’t feel real. You are vibrant, full of wit and verve. Your work rocks, and it made all of us in geography proud. I’m glad I knew you, and am grateful for the expected and random times I’d see you–Oaxaca 2000, Kentucky, and of course the AAGs. May the force be with you into the next realm.
That combination of brilliance and generosity, mischief and courage…what a loss this is.
I would never have engaged geography if it weren’t for you Neil. May your students and your students students be forever inspired.
This is so sad. A huge loss to geography and anti-capitalist thought.
Reading this is so shockingly sad, I felt a pang of sorrow go through my heart as soon as I realized the gravity of what I had read. I was not a student of Neil’s, but had the pleasure of subletting his apartment last summer. He was very generous to welcome me and trust me in his home, and will not soon forget the warmth of his spirit and his genial demeanor. I am so deeply saddened by this, and my thoughts go out to his loved ones.
Neil has been such a rock, someone we all took for granted as being there forever. So solid but so imaginative. Such a shock Hat he is gone.
I am shocked and saddened to hear this news.
Neil–I feel lucky to have had the chance to spend some time with you and was always inspired by your sense of justice, enthusiasm and energy for everything. Your sense of humour was infectious and you will continue to inspire me and many many others.
Turas math dhut, Susan.
It’s impossible to imagine geography without Neil. What a force, and what a terrible loss for us all.
The world of geography feels shrunken without you.
Neil,
Like others, I’m reeling and blown away by the news. You were so kind to me; I felt more courageous by your words of support and encouragement and wise perspective. Ive learned so much from your teaching and writing…and again today, reading and feeling the love you’ve inspired.
Rest in Peace. We have lost much with your passing, but you changed the world while you were earthbound.
RIP.
Mia
‘An immeasurable loss has been sustained both by the militant proletariat … and by historical science, in the death of this man.’
– Engels at Marx’s graveside (March 22, 1883)
Neil,
It was such an honour to spend a few days with you during your weekend trip to Calgary. The conversation on our bus ride to Bridgeland was truly inspirational. Thank you for all your encouragement and help on my research that weekend, and for truly motivating us with your enthusiasm and knowledge all these years. You will be truly missed, but never forgotten. RIP.
Kyle
I’m so sad to hear this news. I was a fellow in one of the first years of the Culture and Politics program. Neil was always encouraging to younger scholars; he was curious and knowledgeable about such a wide range of things and knew how a good argument could bring out the strengths & weaknesses in both or all sides. He remained concerned about our role as scholars in the real cities and spaces where we live, and engaged in work that made a difference. Of course, he always appreciated the value of a beer and a good story. His influence will continue to be felt.
I am very very sad to learn the terrible news about Neil passing away… It was such a pleasure to meet him in person last year at Clark university during the crigitcal geography conference… Neil said he would show me around New York and local gentrification. Fullishly I thought that whenever I come next time I can just email him and have him guide me around. I was so wrong… This is a huge loss to the world, and to the world of geography and urban studies especially. It wasn’t his time yet…
I remember Neil’s garden of tomatoes, chard and grapes. The apple trees pruned along the house. The wide full table with turkey and dishes brought by people wanting to talk and to listen.
I remember Neil as larger than life; generous and humorous. He was uncompromising in his principles, sharp in mind and wit. In person and in his writing he was inspiring, one of a kind. He will be greatly missed.
Neil,
Titan and comrade, you made us all feel bigger and closer to one another. Your open arms and dynamism is what brought me to CUNY, and I am hollowed out today, trying to accept that I will not get to thank you for that.
I already miss your voice, that tender growl, that defined both your spoken and written words. I even miss that singular style with which you could combine vest and scarf… So we begin the work of gathering up the pieces you leave behind, all things minute and immense.
In sorrow and solidarity with Neil’s family, colleagues and friends,
Alessandro