Michael Craig Hudson

1938 - 2021

HUDSON, Michael Craig

of Chevy Chase, Maryland, died from cancer on May 25, 2021 at his daughter's home in Tucson, Arizona.

Michael was born on June 2, 1938 in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from Swarthmore College and received his PhD in political science from Yale University, studying with legendary political scientist Karl Deutsch and influenced by anthropologist Marshall Sahlins. Michael's lifelong engagement with the Arab world was sparked when, as an exchange student in Beirut, he witnessed first-hand the US military intervention in the 1958 Lebanese crisis. He went on to focus his study of politics and international relations on the Arab world and Middle East. In 1975, he joined the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University as director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and accepted an endowed position as professor of international relations. He was recruited as the founding director of the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore from 2010 to 2014. Michael lost his wife and beloved companion of 44 years, Palestinian-Lebanese biologist Vera Wahbe Hudson, in 2007. He was an avid bon vivant, delighting in fine food and drink, travel, music, theater, literature and spending time with friends, old and new. He enjoyed running and swimming until his last days of life.

Michael is survived by his brother, Robert B. Hudson III and sister-in-law, Perry Hewitt of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; his daughter, Leila Hudson, son-in-law, Riad Altoubal, grandchildren, Zayna and Zayd Altoubal of Tucson, Arizona; and his daughter, Aida Hudson, son-in-law, Andreas Laursen and grandchildren, Annika and Benedict Hudson-Laursen of Copenhagen, Denmark. His family, friends and colleagues will gather in Washington, DC in July 2021 to remember and celebrate his life. Arrangements by EAST LAWN PALMS MORTUARY.