What terrible news. Geoff was an incredibly generous scholar and person. I had the fortune of spending a great deal of time with him in the summer of 2006 when I went to the Museum of London to study 18th and 19th century personal adornment---part of a bigger endeavor that was initially partially inspired by Geoff's fabulous book (with Frances Pritchard), Dress Accessories. Geoff couldn't have been more generous with me. When I met him first in his office at MOLAS, he brought out one artifact after another to show me, objects pulled from the depths of drawers and deep on shelves. Later that summer, Geoff made arrangements for me to meet with some of the old timer mudlarks on the Thames---those very same people who Geoff would eventually work with at the BM---and through this I got to see many personal adornment artifacts I would never have seen. Those guys really respected his knowledge and loved his character. I am attaching a photo I took of their tribute to Geoff that day.

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv183/cw99999/We%20love%20Geoff/welovegeoff.jpg

It was amazing to me the way that Geoff could translate himself from MOLAS to the Thames foreshore to the academic conference environment and had admirers of his knowledge and friends in each place.

What a sad sad loss.

Carolyn White


________________________________________
Carolyn L. White
Assistant Professor
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Anthropology
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, NV 89557
phone: 775-682-7688





On 12/27/10 6:09 AM, "paul courtney" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

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