Renaissance man: Professor emeritus Charles Issawi remembered

Throughout his lifetime, near eastern studies professor emeritus Charles Issawi's colorful pursuits and passions made him the portrait of a true Renaissance man.

By the age of five, Issawi spoke three languages — English, French and Arabic — and devoured English literature at his boarding school in Alexandria, Egypt.

Later in his life, Issawi memorized entire pages of Shakespearean plays and romantic poetry and recited his favorite verses aloud during long walks in New York, where he taught economics at Columbia University.

Even after retiring from Princeton — where he taught from 1975 to 1986 — the talented researcher of Middle Eastern economics and history published seven books, including his 1999 autobiography "Growing up Different: Memoirs of a Middle East Scholar."

"He was a man of wide culture and civilization," said near eastern studies professor Abraham Udovitch, who served as the department's chair during Issawi's Princeton career.

"He was imbued with his own culture and devoted to it, but he didn't find any contradiction between that and being a man of the world," Udovitch said.

Issawi — born in Egypt to parents of Lebanese, Syrian and Greek ancestry — died Dec. 8.

Those who were close to the gifted scholar recall his varied interests and the intense dedication Issawi — who graduated the equivalent of summa cum laude from Magdalen College, Oxford — devoted to his academic studies.

"He was very prolific and very hard-working," said his wife, Janina, who served as the University's foreign student adviser from 1976 to 1989.

Indeed, Issawi wrote three books on contemporary Egypt and four volumes on the economic history of the Middle East. He also served in the Egyptian Ministry of Finance (1937-38), was chief of research at the National Bank of Egypt (1938-1943) and joined the United Nations' secretariat in the Middle East Unit of the Department of Economic Affairs.

"Charles Issawi was a man for many seasons," Udovitch said in a eulogy delivered at a memorial service for Issawi in the University chapel last Saturday. "He was a man of the East and a man of the West . . . one felt that these many worlds were happily and harmoniously integrated in [his] mental universe."

Issawi also embodied a love of teaching and served as a source of constant encouragement for all who knew him.

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"He was very encouraging and supportive and always urged us to pursue our interests," said Miriam Lowi GS 85, a former student of Issawi's. "With this attention from him we tended to feel better about ourselves as budding scholars."

Even as Issawi pursued his academic career with a distinct seriousness, he possessed a "wonderful sense of humor," which he eagerly shared with those around him, his wife, Janina, said.

Likewise, when guest speakers visited the department as part of the "Brown Bag Lunches" lecture program Issawi led, he would delight the audience with an original limerick he composed about each speaker.

"He had a fantastic wit and because of the cleverness of his humor it was really such a pleasure to be around him," Lowi said.

Yet in the face of his many accomplishments, Issawi remained a modest man.

"He was a man of great integrity, very tolerant," his wife said. "With all his knowledge and all his erudition, he was very modest. He never bragged about himself, never talked down to people, never corrected people. I think that's why people liked him so much."

Lowi, who is a visiting fellow at the Center of International Studies, agreed.

"He was very erudite and so generous about sharing his knowledge," she said.

"His death is a terrible loss to all of us who knew him and appreciated him," said Lowi. "It's also a tremendous loss to the study of the region for he was both a pioneer and a master."