David K. Wyatt
David K. Wyatt | |
|---|---|
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| Born | David Kent Wyatt September 21, 1937 Fitchburg, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | November 14, 2006 (aged 69) Ithaca, New York, U.S. |
| Spouse | Alene Wilson |
| Children | 3 |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Historian |
| Institutions | Cornell University |
| Main interests | History of Southeast Asia |
David Kent Wyatt (September 21, 1937 – November 14, 2006) was an American historian and author who studied
Biography
Early life
David K. Wyatt was born in
dissertation, which discussed political reform in Thailand, was published in 1969 as Thailand: The Politics of Reform. He learned to speak Thai
fluently. He married Alene Wilson, and had three children and five grandchildren.
Career
Before receiving his doctorate, Wyatt accepted a teaching position at the
School of Oriental and African Studies–where he taught until 1968. After teaching for a year at the University of Michigan, he returned to the Cornell Department of History in 1969–the same year he served as the doctoral advisor to the late historian Benjamin Batson–and taught there until his retirement in 2002. He was the Department's Chair for a time.[1] He was president of the Association for Asian Studies
in 1993.
In October 2005, he sold his library–consisting of roughly 15,000 volumes, many of them written in Thai, including Thai royal journals–to the Southeast Asia Collection at Ohio University.[3]
Death
Wyatt was diagnosed with
congestive heart failure in the Hospicare Residence in Ithaca, New York.[1]
Notable works
- The Politics of Reform in Thailand: Education in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn (1969)
- Thailand: A Short History (1982, 2nd ed. 2003)
- Siam in Mind (2002)
- Reading Thai Murals (2004)
References
- ^ a b c d e Martin, Douglas (November 17, 2006). "David K. Wyatt, Authority on Thailand, Is Dead at 69". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013.
- ^ Aloi, Daniel (November 16, 2006). "David Wyatt, 69, Cornell expert on Thailand and Southeast Asia, dies in Ithaca". Cornell Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 23, 2023.
- ^ "David K. Wyatt Thai Collection". Ohio University. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023.
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