Neil Smith

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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

 

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About Keith Miyake

Keith Miyake is a graduate of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Program at the CUNY Graduate Center. His work crosses the fields of political economic geography, environmental justice and environmental governance, critical race and ethnic studies, American studies, and Asian American studies. His dissertation examined the institutionalization of environmental and racial knowledges within the contemporary capitalist state.

215 thoughts on “Neil Smith”

  2. Very very sad to hear this news. Neil was a wonderful man. My condolences to all who were close to him and had to pleasure to work with him.
    in sympathy, Genese

  3. Neil,
    Thank you for inspiring me/us with your passion, activism, and keen intellect. A true trail blazer.

  4. Your book Uneven Development (Desenvolvimento Desigual), translated into Portuguese in 1988, will be always a reference for Brazilian geographers. I remember his lecture at the Conference I organized with Perla Zusman at UGI-Meeting in Buenos Aires (2007) and how critic he were about culturalism in Geography. This kind of debate will be more rare in our field since now.

  5. Neil and I were friends for decades. When we were colleagues at Rutgers, we spent a lot of time together and while our encounters have been more occasional lately, they were always interresting, substantive, and fun. Neil was distinguished by his wit, his fierce intelligence, and his willingness to debate major subjects without any personal defensiveness. I feel terribly saddened by this loss.

  6. I will always remember your inspiring lecture and brilliant comments. Your works will continue to inspire many more people for generations to come. Rest in peace and you will certainly be missed.

  7. Dear Neil:

    You told me that I always speak from my gut in class and should not be ashamed. You gave me some deeply needed confidence during that first year in the PhD program and I will never forget that. You were an inspiration and generated a particular type of glow. I know we were not very close, but I really admired you. I hope you are in a good and peaceful place now. You will be missed.

    Antonia Santangelo

  11. Neil, you will always be an inspiration for me, thank you for sharing your life with so many of us! You will be missed.

  13. It was a wonderful privilege to have met him and his work has been a great inspiration to me. May his soul rest in peace! catalina.

  16. You were an inspiration Neil! This is an indescribable loss for many of us and for geography!…

  19. We have lost an eminent geographer whose place will be difficult to fill. May his soul rest in peace.

  20. Neil was Loving, brilliant, jovial, and incredibly generous with heart and mind. The world, my world, will be darker without him.

    Thanks Neil, for touching my life and that of others in such wonderful ways. I will truly miss you.

  22. Sorry to hear such sad news. Neil was like a mentor to me during my various stays in NY. You will be missed, Neil!

  24. Pingback: Neil R. Smith, 1954 – 2012 · The Center for Place, Culture and Politics

  25. Dear Neil
    You have been an inspiration for me and my generation – keep fighting.
    salute
    Martin

  27. Dear Neil,

    A few years ago when I first visited NYC, you told me the CPCP would be my community – and it has been, through its great spirit. From England, my very kind thoughts and best wishes!

    catalina.

  28. dear neil,

    i am very sorry to hear about your sudden illness and i do sincerely wish you a speedy recovery.

    all the very best wishes from istanbul

    biray

  29. Neil, you are the first ‘geographer’ i met twenty some years ago who gave a damn about the intersections of art, activism and the city. Next month a young graduate student you have inspired gives a talk at a conference which i am organizing in Yerevan where he applies your theories of “revanchism’ to present-day Istanbul. Please hurry and get better so we can celebrate!

  30. You are the first ‘geographer’ i met twenty some yrs ago who gave a damn about the intersections of art, activism and the city. Next month a young student you have inspired gives a paper at a conference in Yerevan which I am organizing that applies your theories of “revanchism’ to present-day Istanbul. Please hurry and get better so we can celebrate!

  32. Dear Neil,

    I first met you in the grad club at Hopkins when I was an undergraduate, and remember the pleasure I felt when I read Uneven Development in graduate school, working with someone I first heard of from you, Fred Jameson. You’ve always been a model to me of fearless intellectual passion – whatever may be at you now, I hope you knock it back where it belongs and keep showing us the way forward.

    Peace and strength,

    john waters

  34. Dear Neil:

    Thinking of you and wishing you a speedy recovery. I remember our talk over drinks in NYC well over a decade ago with fondness.

    All the Best,
    Melissa Fisher

  35. Hi, Neil,

    I hope that the positive spirit and generosity you always offer others comes back at you now.
    I don’t know what you are suffering but send my sincerest hopes for your recovery.
    warmly,
    Colette

  38. Neil, I hope you will feel better and recover fully. I’m right here in JH, so if you need anything, holler!

  39. From Anders Lund Hansen:

    Thanks, comrade, for fighting. You have been fighting for justice a longe time. And have inspired generations of critical scholars, activists and citizens.

    Please keep up the fight!

    Love,

    Anders Lund Hansen
    Lund University
    PCP visiting scholar (2002, 2004)

  40. Neil,
    I’m one of those lucky people that met you sometime,somewhere…
    and I wanna work with you one day, you will be all right and waiting for me…
    please hang on!
    evin

  41. From Rishi Arora:

    I picked up Uneven Development my sophomore year of college (UIUC-2008) without knowing of Professor Smith or the explanatory power of geographic analysis. Nevertheless, it has had a profound impact on the course of my studies and progression of my beliefs. I have never met nor communicated with him and have no idea what Professor Smith is going through but I do know that when solitude sings, hope always answers.

    Professor, if you’ve dedicated your life to your work in the hope that some day a curious kid would pick up it up and be forever changed, I humbly tell you that you’ve succeeded.

    Thanks and I wish you all the best.

    Rishi

  43. Hi Neil,

    We are sending you so much live and non-secular and radically good Quaker-ish light. Breathe and heal and om shanti to more healing.

    Hugs and peace,
    Jen

  44. Dear Neil,

    Last time I saw you at the Center’s party, I thought you lost weight. I hope you have good health and hope the center will have a new more productive year. Let me know if I can help you/center in any ways. My time with the Center was one of the most productive time in terms of my intellectual life.

    Best,
    Midori

  45. Dear Neil,

    I learnt with shock of your sudden illness yesterday. I hope you recover fully and quickly.

    Warmest good wishes,

    Talal

  46. Dearest Neil,
    We are all worrying, and hoping you summon all your strength to come out of this strong and garrulous.
    Your friend,
    Frances

  48. We all need your wonderful person to inspire us and spread all that
    positive energy, Neil!

    And we still have our vacation plan to travel around Turkey together,
    remember? So please hang on in there!

    Hugs,
    Zeynep

  49. dearest comrade and pal, whatever it is, you know I will always care deeply; if there is anything I can do – I will.

    Barbara

  50. Neil

    I am so out of touch I know nothing about the challenge you face and I do hope you come out of it smiling. All the best and solidarity forever.

    warm regards

    david ludden

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