Malcolm Webb

WEBB Anthropologist Malcolm Webb Malcolm Webb died in his home on Saturday, April 23, 2011 shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia. Malcolm was born on August 1, 1935 in Wilmington, DE, the second son of Frank A. Webb III and Sara Coffin Webb. Beginning in the fourth grade, his education took place at The Church Farm School, a boarding school in Glen Loch, PA, where Malcolm was consistently at the top of his class. He displayed a talent for history and geography, especially with regard to classical antiquity. He went on to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his BA in Anthropology in 1957, and the University of Michigan, where he earned his PhD in Anthropology in 1964. His dissertation, The Postclassic Decline of the Peten Maya, was widely cited by later researchers. His research interests encompassed, but were not limited to, the origins of the state, economic anthropology, Southeastern American Indians, the origins of religion, and human evolution. He taught at LSU in Baton Rouge and at Southwestern in Lafayette before coming in 1962 to New Orleans to teach at LSUNO (later UNO). Malcolm was the first anthropologist hired by the university, and in subsequent years he developed the Anthropology program at UNO, where he remained until his retirement in 1999, continuing to teach the occasional class until Hurricane Katrina. He was chairman of the Anthropology Department for most of that time. Devoted to UNO and its students, Malcolm was tireless in recruiting Anthropology majors, a number of whom went on to earn PhDs in top Anthropology programs. Malcolm Webb was a devout Christian and a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church. His faith was fundamental to his life and worldview. He was a Biblical scholar with an encyclopedic knowledge of church history and theology. From the time of his arrival in New Orleans he attended Holy Comforter Episcopal Church, now The Chapel of the Holy Comforter. He was active as a lay reader, Sunday school teacher, usher, and vestry member, and at the time of his death was on the Advisory Board. Books were the fabric from which Malcolm Webb's life was woven. Although he did not learn to read until the age of nine, from that time on he was rarely seen without a book. Among his favorite nonfiction authors were William H. McNeill and Will Durant. His tastes in fiction were wide-ranging; he particularly enjoyed mystery, horror, fantasy, and perhaps most of all, children's literature. Among his favorite authors were Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Agatha Christie, Tony Hillerman, H.P. Lovecraft, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, J.K. Rowling, L. Frank Baum, and Edith Nesbit. Malcolm Webb was a kind, gentle man who loved pigs, jokes and ghost stories. Malcolm is survived by his wife Nancy, his sons Michael, Peter (Pat), Joel (Siriwan), and his grandchildren Jennifer, Joanna, and Carl, as well as Panda, Scooter, Saki, Sherman, and his special favorite, Ivan. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 2:30 PM on Wednesday, May 4 at The Chapel of the Holy Comforter, 2220 Lakeshore Dr., New Orleans, LA, with visitation at 1:00 PM. Inurnment will be at All Saints Mausoleum (Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery) on Thursday, May 5 at 2:30 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to The American Indian College Fund, 8333 Greenwood Blvd., Denver, CO, 80221-4488, www.collegefund.org.