Philippine Political Science Journal, 2013 Vol. 34, No. 1, 1–3, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01154451.2013.789174

OBITUARY

David Omer Dury Wurfel, 1929–2012

Figure 1. David Wurfel speaking in Toronto during a United Church conference on disinvestment, March 2004 (Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1,143,0252@N05/1,122,11,112)

DAVID Omer Dury WURFEL was born in Seattle, Washington, 22 May 1929, and died in that same city, 12 November 2012. Knowing this, one might be tempted to surmise that he spent his life in that northwest corner of the United States. He did not. Only during his early youth and last years did he reside there. In between, during his extensive research and teaching career as a political scientist, he lived in many parts of the United States, Canada, and several countries in the -Pacific region, among them , Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, the , and . The Philippines is the country David studied most. His interest in Philippine politics, society, history, and people began in 1947 when he suspended his undergraduate enrolment at San Diego State College to accompany his parents to Manila where his father, a colonel in the Judge Advocate General corps of the US army, was assigned and his mother had a Fulbright scholarship to teach at the University of the Philippines.1 While a student at UP for a year, David’s interests in the Philippines expanded, as much a consequence of learning from his new Filipino friends and acquaintances in Manila and central Luzon as from his university classes. That year was the first of his numerous journeys to and extended stays in the Philippines. His last trip was April 2012, during which time he gave the keynote address to the annual conference of the Philippine Political Science Association, which was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in Cagayan de Oro City.2 David’s scholarly contributions to the literature on Philippine politics began with academic journal articles in the mid 1950s on agrarian reform, a topic that he examined frequently during his career, and not just in the Philippines but in Vietnam, Japan and elsewhere.3 Another theme in David’s Philippine research is US-Philippine relations. His PhD dissertation on the two countries’ interactions following World War II remains q 2013 Philippine Political Science Association (PPSA) 2 B. J. T. Kerkvliet essential reading for understanding the significance of US aid and other involvement in the Philippines between 1946 and the late 1950s.4 Parts of the dissertation were published in academic journals, among them the American Political Science Review.5 Political parties, elections, elite-mass relations and the evolution of martial law rule were additional topics of David’s research. These together with agrarian politics and US-Philippine relations are prominent themes in David’s major book, Filipino Politics.6 David also did research elsewhere in Asia and, recently, the Middle East. Among the subjects of his publications are democratization and elections in Japan; democratization in Thailand compared to the Philippines; constitution making in East Timor; nationalism and ethnic politics in East Timor compared to the Philippines; political dynamics and foreign policy in Vietnam, and peace movements in Palestine and Israel.7 During his teaching career, which spanned nearly four decades, David’s undergraduate and graduate courses were in both comparative politics and international relations, which he taught at universities in six countries. David’s first teaching position was at the International Christian University in Tokyo, 1959–1962. In later years, he taught there again for short periods. In 1962 he accepted a tenure-track position in the Political Science Department at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, and in 1964 earned tenure and promotion to associate professor. He remained at Missouri until 1968, although he took leave to teach at the University of Michigan and the University of Singapore, where he held a Fulbright Visiting Lectureship in 1964–1965. In 1968, he began teaching at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, initially in the university’s Asian Studies program and soon thereafter in its Political Science Department as well. He was promoted to full professor in 1972. Windsor became David’s home university until retirement in 1994. Occasionally he took leave from Windsor to teach at the University of the Philippines; the Institute for International Relations in , Vietnam; the International University of Japan in Tokyo, and the University of Hawai’i. He also had short research appointments in numerous other academic institutions in Canada and abroad prior to and following retirement. David was active in numerous political and social causes, among them was opposing the United States’ wars in Vietnam, Laos, and8 Cambodia. He also contested and critiqued the nuclear arms race; pressed for racial and gender equality;’ opposed Marcos's martial law rule in the Philippines; helped homeless people in Canada, and supported peace movements in Palestine and Israel. Surviving David are his wife, children, and grandchildren.

Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet Australian National University E-mail: [email protected]

Notes 1. For more about David’s initial exposure to the Philippines and other parts of Asia, see his uncompleted autobiography: http://davidwurfel.ca/biography/. 2. The published version of his presentation is “Doing Political Science in the Philippines, 1962– 2012” Philippine Political Science Journal 33 (2): 242–49. 3. See, for instance, “The Rice Share Tenancy Act” Pacific Affairs, (March 1954): 41–50; ‘Land Reform: Context, Accomplishments and Prospects under Marcos and Aquino,’ Pilipinas (Spring 1989): 35–54. 4. David O.D. Wurfel, “The Bell Report and After: A Study of the Political Problems of Social Reform Stimulated by Foreign Aid” (Ph.D. dissertation, , 1960). 5. “Foreign Aid and Social Reform in Political Development: A Philippine Case Study” American Political Science Review 53 (June 1959): 456–82.