James Wells Gair

Professor Gair was such an outstanding academic, great teacher and a wonderful friend to anyone who crossed path with him. He never got tired of helping others, working for those who were in need and he will always go an extra mile to do everything he can do to make others life easy and pleasant. Man with sense of humour, quality and gratitude for the slightest favour he received. Jim (as he was fondly known was a great friend of Sri Lanka in every way, as his student, collegue and friend I...

Jim was such an amazing human being with so much wisdom, compassion and passion for life! He never stopped learning whether it is a culture, language or people. What a loss to see you go Jim I'm ever so indebted to you, Barbera and Professor Karunatilake for all what you have done in my education. Thank you!

My Beloved professor and friend. No memorials are needed; you are always in my heart. Milan

A brilliant, often entertaining, patient and kind, beloved teacher. I was his student, Teaching and Research Assistant in Sinhala at Cornell, and first met him in1971.. It is impossible to put into words what a great experience this was. I respected him highly and will never forget him. I will always be grateful to him for taking the time to visit my parents when he was in Sri Lanka, and for assuring them that I was doing well at Cornell. I am sad that I am sending this many months after his...

Jim Gair was a very special human being who was a mentor, friend, and trusted colleague. He had intelligence, insight, wisdom, warmth and humanity. When I arrived at Cornell in 1971 he helped me accommodate to the department and university and we worked very well together from then until his retirement in 2000 (and my departure for the University of Arizona). I'm so sorry he is gone.
-Linda Waugh

What sad tidings. Jim Gair was my mentor, linguistic guru, and friend, and I was his last student before he eased into well-deserved retirement. Those of us who studied Sinhala, Pali, and Tamil with Jim can appreciate his superlative linguistic gifts; he probably mastered the difficult Sinhala language to a degree never surpassed by a foreign speaker in modern times. Jim was also kind and considerate, bereft of the deficiencies of character typical of many elite academics.

Alex we just read about yout father. Thoughts of condolences to you and your family and friends from your old MU Maple floormates and many more friends campus-based.

I met my beloved professor James W. Gair and his wife Prof. Barbara Lust at Cornell University in 1979. I worked with Prof. Gair until 1997 assisting him with Sinhalese and Tamil teaching programs, while completing my PhD. at Cornell. I maintained contacts with him until his demise. He was a fountain of knowledge not only in his own field of linguistics but in many other fields. Jim is a noble man in every sense and I will miss him forever. I am writing this from Sri Lanka, Jim's beloved...