In memoriam: Gedeon Gál, O.F.M.

In memoriam: Gedeon Gal, O.F.M. Father Gedeon Gal died May 25, 1998, of complications arising from lymphosarcoma. His condition had been diagnosed in January and his decline was rapid. Early in March he was brought to the Holy Name Friary in Ringwood, New Jersey, for care and for chemotheraphy. He died there and was buried at Saint Bonaventure, New York. When he learned of his condition, he resolutely faced death. He had enjoyed good health all his life, he observed, with gratitude, and death had to come some day. Father Gedeon Gal came to The Franciscan Institute in 1963 to pick up and continue the edition of William of Ockham's philosophical and theological writings, begun by Father Philotheus Boehner. As the edition was reaching its completion, the Institute hosted a conference on Ockham. Franciscan Studies published the papers given and discussed at the conference. As an introduction to the second volume Doctor Rega Wood (Yale), a coeditor of the edition and a close collaborator of Father Gedeon, published an account of Gedeon Gal's life and work. (See "In Honorem: Gedeon Gal," Franciscan Studies 1985, vii-xii.) Later, Dr. Stephen Brown (Boston College), another close collaborator of Father Gedeon, reminisced on how it was, working with Gedeon Gal. He lets transpire the simplicity and the humor, along with the method and determination, which marked work on the Ockham edition as well as on its collateral studies. (See Franciscan Studies 1993, 1-5.) To the two pieces we at Franciscan Studies add our gratitude for Gedeon's great contribution to this review and our regret that his collaboration has come to an end. He gave the review assurance and guidance, besides contributing regularly to its pages. Saturday morning, May 30, friends gathered at the St. Bonaventure University Chapel for the Mass of Christian Burial. In Father Gedeon's office, among his notes, was a slip of paper with a line from the Roman poet Ennius: Nemo me lacrymis decoret, neque fuñera fletu faxit. If that had been his wish, it was not heard. Franciscan Studies, 57 (1999) ...