Jane I. Guyer

1943 - 2024

Dr. Jane Isabel Guyer, of Baltimore, MD, renowned anthropologist and Africanist, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and dear friend to many, passed away suddenly but peacefully at age 80, on January 17, 2024 in Davis, CA, after a long decline due to dementia. She is survived by her

beloved husband, Bernard Guyer; devoted children, Samuel Zev Guyer, Nathan David(Amanda) Guyer, Katherine Isabel (Bill) Fennell; adoring grandchildren, Hannah Isabel Guyer, William Joseph Fennell VI, Owen Wright Guyer, Jonah Solomon Guyer, and Grace Isabel Fennell; brother Peter (Christine) Mason; sister-in-law, Marilyn (Michael) Rice; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and their children. She is also survived by many dear friends and colleagues, whom she regarded as family.

Jane was preceded in death by her parents Walter and Isabel Mason; her parents-in-law, Sydney and Anna Guyer; her brother Timothy Mason and his wife Simonetta; her sister, Elizabeth Mason; her siblings-in-law Benoit and Evelyn Gorge; her daughter-in-law Elizabeth Guyer; and her niece and nephew Karen and Marshal Gorge.

Jane was a brilliant thinker, accomplished academic, and published author. Her contributions to her field and community are both broad and deep, each outstanding in its own way. In their announcement of her death, Johns Hopkins University wrote, "Guyer's capacity for optimism was remarkable, her compassion a gift" and described her as, "An innovative leader at Johns Hopkins and in the profession… also a beloved teacher to many students and mentor to younger faculty colleagues." Her legacy carries on through her original ideas, insights, and contributions, as well as through the many people who knew her and experienced her enthusiasm and wisdom.

Jane was born on December 31, 1943, to Walter (called Jim) and Isabel Mason in Scotland, while her father served in the Royal Navy in WWII. She grew up on Merseyside, near Liverpool, England, the second oldest among her siblings, Timothy, Peter, and Elizabeth. She attended the Birkenhead High School Academy (Girl's Public Day School Trust) where she was an honor student and captain of the tennis team. Her parents had a profound impact on her life choices, as their own career ambitions were thwarted by the war, the Great Depression, and her mother's experiences with gender discrimination. Both were highly educated, with her mother earning a bachelor's degree in French from Birmingham University in 1930. Her father was multi-talented-an intellect, artist, and musician who spent his career as a high school science and music teacher.

In 1963, Jane met and fell in love with Bernard Guyer, an American undergraduate pre-med student studying abroad in Edinburgh; they traveled together through Europe and Israel. In 1965, she received her undergraduate degree in sociology from the London School of Economics, earning first class honours. After graduation, she immigrated to the United States to begin her graduate studies at the University of Rochester, where Bernie was a medical student. They married in 1966 and their first son, Sam, was born in Rochester in 1970. Jane received her Ph.D. in anthropology in 1972, becoming the formidable Dr. Guyer. Post-graduate positions brought her and Bernie to Nashville, TN, where their second son Nathan was born in 1973, and later to Yaoundé, Cameroon, where their daughter Kate was born in 1976. Jane and the family lived in Brookline, MA, from 1977 to 1989, before moving to Baltimore in 1989. She traveled avidly during these years, conducting field research, giving speeches, attending conferences, and visiting friends.

At the time of her death, Jane was Professor Emerita at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Anthropology where she had served as the George Armstrong Kelly Professor from 2002 until her retirement in 2015. Prior to her appointment at Johns Hopkins, she was a Professor of Anthropology and Director of the prestigious Program of African Studies at Northwestern University, where she worked tirelessly to promote the work of African scholars. Earlier faculty positions include Harvard University, Boston University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2008 and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2009. Her career was primarily devoted to economic transformations in West Africa, particularly the productive economy, the division of labor, and the management of money. She authored many books, including Marginal Gains: Monetary Transactions in Atlantic Africa; Legacies, Logics, logistics: Essays in the Anthropology of the Platform Economy; Feeding the African Cities: Essays in Regional Social History; Money Matters; and a new translation of Marcel Mauss' The Gift, Expanded Edition. Her work and its influence on the work of other leaders across multiple fields is the subject of the 2017 volume edited by Wale Adebanwi, The Political Economy of Everyday Life in Africa: Beyond the Margins.

Jane served in numerous positions in national and international organizations, including the International Advisory Group to the World Bank and the governments of Chad and Cameroon on the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project, the Lost Crops of Africa panel published by the National Academy, and the Board and Executive Committee of the African Studies Association.

Jane received many awards and honors in her lifetime, including an honorary doctoral degree from Birmingham University in 2016, the Africanist Scholar of the Year Award in 2012 by the African Studies Association, and an honorary tribal chieftaincy designation from Idere, Nigeria, the town in which she conducted much of her field work. Her greatest pride was mentoring students and colleagues and investing in the future of her field. She was instrumental in the founding of The Academy at Johns Hopkins, an institute that honors retired faculty by supporting them to remain active in the university.

In addition to her remarkable career, Jane loved sewing, reading, cooking, music, traveling, tending to her English rose garden, and spending early evenings on the beach in Rehoboth with her Bernie and a cup of Pimms. She was passionate about her Jewish faith and the Kol HaLev community in Baltimore; even as her cognitive abilities declined, she loved to participate in the special "Memory Care" Shabbat services at Congregation Bet Haverim in Davis. She was involved with many organizations and enjoyed supporting the Baltimore and Rehoboth small business communities.

Services will be at Sol Levinson's Chapel, 8900 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville, MD 21208, on Thursday, January 25th, 2024, at 12:00 pm with Rabbi Geoff Basik officiating. Interment will follow at Serenity Ridge Natural Burial Cemetery and Arboretum,2406 Ridge Road, Windsor Mill, MD 21244. Please see the Sol Levinson website for updated shiva information.

Memorials or donations may be made to Kol HaLev Synagogue, 130 W. Seminary Ave Suite 100, Timonium, MD 21093; Congregation Bet Haverim, 1715 Anderson Rd, Davis, CA 95616; the Guyer Virmani Fellowship, Program of African Studies at Northwestern University, african-studies@northwestern.edu or 847-491-7323; or a charity of your choice.