Faruk Tabak'ın ardından …
Resat Kasaba
Ravi Palat

Faruk Tabak is no longer amongst us. He passed away in Ankara, Turkey
early in the morning of February 15, 2008 of complications stemming
from the massive brain hemorrhage he suffered on New Year's Eve. He
was then the Ertegün Assistant Professor of Modern Turkish Studies at
Georgetown University.



Faruk was a true stalwart of the Fernand Braudel Center from 1981 to
2000. No one who passed through the Center could fail to be struck by
his charm and his generosity, his erudition and his good humor. He had
an aura of gentleness that helped initiate visitors and new students
and helped them feel at home at the Center. To those of us fortunate
to be his friends, he gave loyalty and trust an entirely new meaning.

Just before he died, he held in his hands a copy of his book, The
Waning of the Mediterranean, 1550-1870: A Geohistorical Approach,
published earlier this month. An anonymous reviewer for the Johns
Hopkins Press called it "Braudelian in inspiration" and said that the
press "would be privileged" to publish it. Perhaps unusual praise for
a first book but surely not too exaggerated a claim for what will soon
be recognized as the best book, bar none, by an alumnus of the Center.



Apart from setting standards of scholarship, friendship, and
generosity to which most of us can only aspire, he made the Center a
fun place to work. Who can forget him calling Juanita Crabb, then
mayor of Binghamton, to ask for a ride to Philadelphia? Or organizing
soccer matches?

His contributions to the Center were legion: a leading light in the
biennial conferences on the Ottoman Empire, the proceedings of one
which he co-edited in a volume with Caglar Keyder, Landholding and
Commercial Agriculture in the Middle East; a key member of several
research working groups; fill-in secretary more than once; contributor
of several articles to Review besides serving as its publications
officer for over a decade; and participant in several PEWS
conferences, one of which he organized and published its proceedings
as Allies as Rivals: The US, Europe, and Japan in a Changing
World-System.

Behind these formal accomplishments, there was a greater spirit of
solidarity: he was genuinely concerned with the work of others and
worked through the drafts of his colleagues, helping them frame their
arguments with greater precision and support their claims with
appropriate evidence, reasoned argument, and meticulous documentation
even if he disagreed with their contentions. His comments were always
incisive and insightful, drawing on his vast reservoir of knowledge
for he was a voracious reader and had an encyclopedic mind.

And he was an absolutely marvelous cook. His culinary creations were
inevitably the centerpiece of the Center's Christmas parties. Who can
forget the special dinner parties he hosted? Or the eggplant that
exploded in a friend's oven?

By all accounts, as a teacher he was inspirational. One of his
students at Georgetown remarked that "He managed to touch just about
every continent in each lecture, regardless of topic." "I am
embarrassed to admit how much this man changed the way I thought about
the world," says another. Many say that he was "by far the best
professor at Georgetown." He was, one said quite simply, "the man.
Take him."

But most of all, Faruk will be remembered for his utterly selfless
generosity—of his time, of his energies, of himself—to everyone who
had the good fortune to be associated with him. He is no longer
amongst us, but he will always be with us—with us by his scholarship,
now alas cruelly cut short; with us by the laughter he invokes and
will continue to invoke in us; by the friendships he forged with us
and helped us forge with each other; and by his unparalleled
generosity of spirit.