Wyatt, David K. 1937-2006

(David Kent Wyatt)

OBITUARY NOTICE— See index for CA sketch: Born September 21, 1937, in Fitchburg, MA; died of emphysema and congestive heart failure, November 14, 2006, in Ithaca, NY. Historian, educator, and author. A Cornell University professor, Wyatt was a renowned authority on the history and culture of Thailand. His educational background included a B.A. from Harvard in 1959, an M.A. from Boston University in 1960, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1966. He lectured in history at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London for two years, then taught briefly at the University of Michigan. In 1969, Wyatt joined the Cornell University faculty as an associate professor, and he made full professor in 1975. The director of the university’s Southeast Asia program from 1976 to 1979, he chaired the department of history from 1983 to 1987, and again from 1988 to 1989. Wyatt was named John Stambaugh Professor of Southeast Asian History in 1984. The author of Thailand: A Short History (1984), which became a standard in history classes, Wyatt revised the work substantially in 2003 and was widely praised for making the nation and its people understandable to the general reader. Among his other publications are The Politics of Reform in Thailand: Education in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn (1969), The Crystal Sands: The Chronicles of Nagara Sri Dharmaraja (1975), and Studies in Thai History: Collected Articles (1994).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, November 17, 2006, p. B9. New York Times, November 17, 2006, p. A29.