A memorial service this week in honor of Richard T. Antoun, professor emeritus of anthropology, will celebrate the professor’s life as a scholar, educator, family man and friend.
The service is scheduled for 1 to 2:30 p.m. on Friday in Binghamton University’s Anderson Center Chamber Hall.
Ryan Yarosh, spokesman for BU, said the University has been working closely with Antoun’s family and colleagues in the planning of this event, which will honor his academic contributions to the campus, region and beyond.
According to Yarosh, Antoun’s family and friends, along with staff members, will speak at the memorial.
H. Stephen Straight, a professor of anthropology and linguistics, and a friend of Antoun, plans on speaking at the event.
“We’re hoping to get the people who didn’t know him very well to appreciate what a model life he led,” Straight said, “And for the people who did know him well, we want to adequately capture the breadth and depth of the life he led.”
Straight said the choice to delay the event until now was intentional.
“Being so late in the semester, with classes almost over, it didn’t seem right to rush to put the service together,” he said, “We thought it would be better to move it into the spring semester so that everybody could have time to reflect. I thought it was perfectly appropriate.”
On Dec. 4, Antoun, 77, was stabbed four times with a 6-inch kitchen blade in Science I around 1:45 p.m. He died at Wilson Memorial Hospital that afternoon. Graduate student Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani was indicted by the Broome County grand jury on Jan. 22, and charged with second degree murder.
Straight, who is still finding it hard to come to terms with the loss of Antoun, said he is looking forward to this celebration of the professor’s life.
“It is a really devastating circumstance and we all want to help each other through this with feelings of solitude and remembrance,” he said.
Lois J. Einhorn, a professor of English, knew Antoun through the University, as well as from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Binghamton, where they were both members. Einhorn was upset that she hadn’t been informed as to why there was no immediate memorial in December.
“There was a breakdown of communication. As a professor here, I deserved to hear something from the University,” Einhorn said. “Thank goodness I had already joined the church earlier this year.”
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Binghamton hosted a memorial service Dec. 11. According to Einhorn, this service was wonderfully attended and exceeded her expectations. More than 300 people attended.
Einhorn said she hopes that somebody will speak about how to deal with ongoing grief.
“I know that I have not finished grieving,” she said, “I don’t think anyone ever finishes.”
After the celebration, there will be an informal reception in the Grand Corridor of the Fine Arts Building, which will provide a venue for all attendees to interact and further reflect on the Antoun’s contributions.
Additional plans and details regarding a tribute to Antoun will be announced during Friday’s celebration. Yarosh also encourages memorial fund donations to be sent to the BU Foundation Memorial account 10351 in memory of Antoun. Donations may be mailed to Binghamton University Foundation, PO Box 6005, Binghamton, NY 13902-6005.