The Center for Hellenic Studies mourns the passing of Michael C. J. Putnam. An alumnus of Harvard University (A.B., A.M., and Ph.D.) and long-time faculty member at Brown’s Department of Classics, Michael was a dedicated servant to the field of classics.
Among his many contributions to the discipline, Michael was a driving force in the early days of the Center for Hellenic Studies. When the first Director of the CHS, Bernard M. W. Knox, had to delay the start of his appointment for a year, Michael stepped in as the Acting Director from 1961–1962. In this role, Michael undertook the difficult but essential work of building the new Center’s library collection, which at that point comprised only a small selection of books.1 Most prominently, after Harvard’s Werner Jaeger passed away in October 1961, Michael played a key role in managing the donation of Jaeger’s books, a significant contribution to the growth of our library. Later, Michael resumed a formal affiliation with the center as a Senior Fellow, an appointment he held for fifteen years, from 1971–1986.
You can read about Michael’s impressive legacy of service, scholarship, teaching, and mentorship in this In Memoriampublished by Brown Classics.
1 You may find more details about these early days in Erik Lindquist, The Origins of the Center for Hellenic Studies (1990), 52.