Paul Bohannan


Paul Bohannan passed into the next world on 13 July 2007. He was a bonafide genius, a wonderful friend and a veteran of First CONTACT. Paul's history with CONTACT began when he answered the initial letter I wrote "to entice the demons" of anthropologists, science fiction writers and artists into joining me in producing a new kind of conference in 1983. He asked if there might be a place for him. O, yes! I was overjoyed. He came and saw and stayed, and was our keynote speaker in 1993. He enjoyed CONTACT and even used "Cultures of the Imagination" in a textbook he wrote.

Paul was our brightest star in anthropology, a prolific author, past president of the American Anthropological Association and Dean of Social Sciences and Communication at the University of Southern California. His presence and prestige lent an academic credibility to our venture that started CONTACT on its way to becoming a well-known and reputable forum on the future. He was a very special man. I was proud to have known him and felt awed when he would refer to me as his friend. He always had new good ideas and I still quote him frequently. He touched many people's lives and we will all miss him.

His wife Lisa told me that, in going through some of his papers, she found a picture of Paul, smiling broadly and sporting his CONTACT badge. That's how I will remember him. And I will remember him always.

-Jim Funaro