On Friday, May 16, a memorial service was held honoring Professor Emeritus of Government and Mary Mortimer Professor of Liberal Studies Minoo Adenwalla, who passed away this January. The service took place in Warch Campus Center’s Somerset Room and was attended by current and former Lawrence students, faculty and staff, community members and members of Adenwalla’s family.
Adenwalla had a 64-year career at Lawrence spanning across eight decades, according to Lawrence University President Laurie Carter. He taught at Lawrence from 1959 up until his retirement two years ago at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year. He was 97 years old.
The ceremony was opened by Julie Esch Hurvis Dean of Spiritual and Religious Life and University Champlain, Terra Winston-Sage. Winston-Sage read a Ray Bradbury quote about leaving behind proof of having lived. She then explained that the attendees gathered to honor his life were proof of Adenwalla’s legacy.
Carter took the stage next, recounting his many achievements at Lawrence, calling him a “leader,” an “inspiration” and part of the “fabric” of the university.
A number of people took turns eulogizing Adenwalla as the service continued. Adenwalla’s family followed Carter’s opening remarks. The first speech was made jointly by his two daughters, who recounted their father — whom they called “Fots” — as both “argumentative and demanding but loving and supportive.” Their stories focused on their childhoods and early adulthoods spent with him, his influence on their career paths and their overall gratefulness for him. They said he remains a “love, persistence and presence” in their lives and those of others. Next to speak from the Adenwalla family were his grandchildren, who called him “Nanu.” They remembered him as interested in their lives and aspirations, sometimes overbearingly but always genuinely. His grandson said he misses their FaceTime calls, especially in moments where he seeks to share achievements with his grandfather. The grandchildren all agreed that Adenwalla will be deeply missed.
Provost, Dean of Faculty and Assistant Professor of History Peter Blitstein recounted Adenwalla as a professor similarly to how his daughters remembered him as a father; Blitstein spoke of him as having high academic expectations but deep care for his students. Adenwalla and his generation of professors, who Bilstein believed held similar outlooks on learning, were the pioneers that made these two values “part of Lawrence’s DNA,” that lives on even today.
Edwin & Ruth West Professor of Economics and Social Science and Professor of Government Claudena Skran remembered the first time she was met with a challenge from Adenwalla to think differently about her own dissertation. She connected her first experience of meeting Adenwalla to those of others; initial shock, but then a sense of inspiration to think deeper about whatever he challenged. She then spoke on the many years they spent as colleagues and friends, reviewing food at faculty functions and helping to form new connections through him. She considered him someone who will live on in the connections he helped foster in life.
University Counsel and tennis coach Eric Schact ‘90, a former student of Adenwalla’s, remembered how he went from being terrified of being put on the spot in Adenwalla’s classes to being grateful for the conversations and scotch they shared years later. At these meetups, Schact said he got to know many of the trustees, or “disciples of Minoo,” who were also invited. There, Adenwalla would talk of students he taught, and Schact said he always sounded proud of them when he did. Schact concluded by saying that because Adenwalla helped “ready the ship” for him, he now felt like he could “chart any course he wanted” in life.
Scotch meetup member Tony Valukas ‘65 recalled going to Adenwalla’s classes as a “moment of courage” for himself and other students. Still, he praised the professor for teaching them to think critically about sources, not just to echo others’ ideas, as well as for always listening to them. Valukas concluded that it was how Adenwalla inspired people, not what he taught, that he and many others took with them after graduating. At the very end, he said that “a great teacher never dies,” and asserted that Adenwalla was a great teacher.
Sarah Scott ‘97, also a member of the scotch meetups, said she shared the terror and the joy of being “interrogated” by Adenwalla in class. She said that Adenwalla’s attention to his students always gave them a sense of being seen, such as when he would act as a “champion” and an “uncle in the States” for international students from India. She ended her speech with Schact’s sentiment that, whether inside or outside the room, Adenwalla always spoke highly of his pupils.
At the end of the service, Bill Baer ‘72 led attendees in a scotch toast to honor Adenwalla’s memory. Baer shared a Jewish phrase of condolence and rose his glass, saying “May his memory be a blessing. To Minoo.”
A reception with food and refreshments followed the memorial service, where attendees passed around a microphone and shared stories of Adenwalla.