Tom Butler

[Cynthia Simmons]

Tom Butler could not have imagined, when he published Monumenta Serbocroatica in 1980, the significance his work would acquire in the post-Yugoslav period, as a kind of documentary history of the peculiarities—and the shared cultural and linguistic heritage—of various ethnic groups of the western Balkans. It is fundamental reading for any student of “Yugoslavia” and beyond.

Yet, Tom’s second calling was that of a humanitarian, dedicated to alleviating in some real sense the losses of the Bosnian war and the continuing struggles in the aftermath. Tom created his own NGO, Builders for Peace, and for more than ten years, and well into an stage of life that for nearly everyone is retirement, led summer service trips to BiH. The work evolved over the years from actual rebuilding and restoration projects—the Karadjoz-Beg Mosque in Mostar and the Franciscan library in Fojnica—to more recently, the teaching of English in Gračanica. A number of Boston College students went to BiH with Tom, and went on to work in other NGOs, at the International Criminal Tribunal, and in various agencies of the State Department.

Tom Butler made significant contributions to Slavic, but he will be remembered at Boston College even more as a dedicated and indefatigable teacher and humanitarian.


Cynthia Simmons
Professor of Slavic Studies
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Slavic and Eastern
Languages and Literatures
Lyons Hall 210
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Ave.
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Phone: 617/552-3914
Fax: 617/552-3913


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                        http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/seelang/attachments/20140126/ad50810a/attachment.html>