I’ve just received the sad news of Bruce Trigger’s passing through a mailing list:
Dear Colleagues,
It is with great sorrow that I must inform you that Bruce passed away last night. The Department, the University and Canada have suffered a great loss. Please join me in expressing our profound condolences to Barbara, Rosalyn and Isobel and their families.
I know few details of the funeral, but Barbara informs me it will be on Monday at St. Andrews & St. Paul’s church on Sherbrooke St. at 2 PM.
Bruce was my friend and mentor for over 30 years. He was the most remarkable and admirable person I have ever had the priviledge to know.
Sincerely,
Mike
Trigger was a hugely influential figure in uniting different theoretical schools of archaeology, so this is really a great loss. The Journal of Social Archaeology had a magnificent interview with him in their most recent issue. The second edition of his classic “A History of Archaeological Thought” (1989) – which, incidentally, we commissioned the review of for the EJA just yesterday – was published by CUP in November. My condolences to his family and friends.
Update: I’m trying to keep track of other bloggers’ reactions: Anthropology.net / Savage Minds / Martin Rundkvist / Material World.