Tom Butler

[Robert Chandler]

Thank you very much, Cynthia, for giving us a clearer picture of your colleague's work.

All the best,  Robert Chandler

On 26 Jan 2014, at 19:12, Cynthia Simmons <cynthia.simmons at BC.EDU> wrote:

> 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------




Robert Chandler, 42 Milson Road, London, W14 OLD

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------