This is sad news indeed. Geoff was a brilliant man with encyclopedic knowledge and natural curiosity that reached even further. I offer my condoleances to his family, friends and colleagues.
 
William Moss

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De: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY de la part de paul courtney
Date: lun. 2010-12-27 09:09
À: [log in to unmask]
Objet : Sad news



I am having difficulty writing this through my tears. Geoff Egan was
found dead at home by his cousin on Christmas Eve. He had left the
Museum of London after 3 decades or more for a new job at the British
Museum- his ideal workplace. Geoff was great friend and I spent part of
December with him and the Finds Research group in Bavaria. Geoff was a
true character and individualist who must have driven his teachers and
managers mad, technophobe (he and I still had no mobile phone) and a
brilliant scholar of objects. His vast library was even bigger than
mine. He was certainly capable of spending his last £100 on some obscure
German book on heraldry. He was a real vocationalist who did archaeology
for the love of the subject. I doubt we will see an individual again
with his vast knowledge. I always used to joke there was no museum on
the planet you could visit without them remembering his visit to look at
small metal objects. I know he had lots of friends in North America,
Europe and further afield. All I can say is that I feel very lonely at
losing one of my best friends and a guy who was a real inspiration to me
from the moment I first met him with three carousels under his arms and
about to give a lecture on metal objects from London to a class of
conservation students at Cardiff.


paul courtney

Co-Editor Post-Medieval Archaeology
Leicester
England