[KS] Gary Rector?

[Brother Anthony]

The sudden death of Gary Rector in his sleep last September took everyone by surprise. It made us realize the extent to which he had withdrawn from public view in recent years. Nobody seemed to have seen him recently, we did not know what he had been doing. The Korean family with whom he had been living for many years were equally unprepared. Gary had not given them any information of how to contact his family or friends. A very few people were contacted by them, but there was no formal funeral. They simply arranged for him to be cremated and then took his ashes and scattered them on a hillside. His books were offered to the RAS but on inspection there were almost no serious Korean Studies books among them. The Peace Corps reunion commemorated him a few days later but there seems to have been nobody with enough information or initiative to write an obituary for the English-language press. The best account of his ife online seems to be http://www.kzoo.edu/belight/article/korean-soundscapes/  

Brother Anthony
President, RAS Korea