11-18-2010, 08:19 PM
I have just become aware (here) of the passing of this eminent Byzantine scholar. The current issue of the Catholic Historical Review (vol. 96 no. 4, October 2010) carries a full obituary.
It seems that Father George Thomas Dennis, S.J., died on Sunday, March 8, 2010 at Good Samaritan Hospital, San Jose, aged 86. He had just completed his ninth book, The Tactical Constitutions of Leo VI (now published by Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies).
He led an interesting life, entering the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1941 and being ordained to the priesthood in 1954. From 1955, he produced a steady stream of publications. After obtaining his doctorate, he taught medieval history at Loyola University, Los Angeles, from 1961 until 1966. His Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964, listed as "Near Eastern Studies", enabled him to study Greek manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. After teaching in the Catholic University of America, he returned to Dumbarton Oaks as Senior Fellow from 1995 until 2001.
In the late 1970s, he had completed Monsignor Martin Higgins' unfinished edition of the Strategikon, which led to his interest in Byzantine military matters. A Festschrift entitled Peace and War in Byzantium (Washington, DC, 1995) was published in honour of his seventieth birthday.
Father Dennis suffered a stroke in 2000, but, although confined to a wheelchair, he returned to Loyola University to teach history and continue his research. He left intructions for his library to be donated to the Ukrainian Catholic University of Lviv.
List of works at WorldCat: here.
It seems that Father George Thomas Dennis, S.J., died on Sunday, March 8, 2010 at Good Samaritan Hospital, San Jose, aged 86. He had just completed his ninth book, The Tactical Constitutions of Leo VI (now published by Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies).
He led an interesting life, entering the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1941 and being ordained to the priesthood in 1954. From 1955, he produced a steady stream of publications. After obtaining his doctorate, he taught medieval history at Loyola University, Los Angeles, from 1961 until 1966. His Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964, listed as "Near Eastern Studies", enabled him to study Greek manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. After teaching in the Catholic University of America, he returned to Dumbarton Oaks as Senior Fellow from 1995 until 2001.
In the late 1970s, he had completed Monsignor Martin Higgins' unfinished edition of the Strategikon, which led to his interest in Byzantine military matters. A Festschrift entitled Peace and War in Byzantium (Washington, DC, 1995) was published in honour of his seventieth birthday.
Father Dennis suffered a stroke in 2000, but, although confined to a wheelchair, he returned to Loyola University to teach history and continue his research. He left intructions for his library to be donated to the Ukrainian Catholic University of Lviv.
List of works at WorldCat: here.
