After leaving the Christian Science Monitor in 1988, David Anable became a College of Communication professor of journalism and chair of the department. Photo courtesy of Perryn Anable Ferris (CFA’94)

Tributes

Remembering COM’s David Anable, CAS’ John Stone

David AnableLongtime Reporter and Editor Spent 20-Plus Years at the Christian Science Monitor

DAVID ANABLE, former chair and professor of journalism at the College of Communication, died on August 13, 2023. He was 84.

Anable was born on June 7, 1939, in the village of Brampford Speke in England. He earned a degree in agriculture from the University of Cambridge and in agricultural economics at Oxford University.

He spent more than 20 years with the Christian Science Monitor—first in London and then in Boston—as a reporter, New York bureau chief, international news editor, and managing editor.

“He was a mentor to legions of Monitor reporters and editors, by nature a teacher, with a strong sense of principle and a gift for making reporters’ draft copy shine on deadline,” wrote Linda Feldmann, Washington bureau chief for the Monitor, in a tribute to Anable. “As foreign editor, he led morning meetings dubbed ‘Sunday School,’ as we gathered round to discuss events and coverage ideas. To young staffers, it was better than grad school. We were being paid to learn.”

After leaving the Monitor in 1988, Anable became a COM professor of journalism and chair of the department. In 1997, he moved to Washington, D.C., to become president of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), a nonprofit that helps reporters and editors cover the critical issues of the day, use new tools and techniques to connect with communities, and build news organizations that thrive.

“Anable’s passion for helping journalists fulfill their vital mission across the globe shone through all his work for ICFJ,” according to the center’s tribute. “He loved to travel to see the impact of ICFJ’s programs on many continents, and he equally loved to host visiting journalists in Washington from everywhere from Peru to Nigeria to Kyrgyzstan.”

Anable led the center until 2004, after which he became a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.

John StoneFormer Chair of the Sociology Department

JOHN STONE, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of sociology and an international scholar of the politics of race and ethnicity, died on October 11, 2023. He was 78.

Stone earned a doctorate in 1970 from St. Antony’s College at Oxford University. His interest in the dynamics of race and racial conflict began with his dissertation research in South Africa, when he was visiting scholar at the Universities of Witwatersrand, Natal, and Cape Town.

During the 1970s and 1980s, he held a variety of faculty posts, at Columbia University, Oxford University, the University of London, and others. He was chair of George Mason University’s department of sociology and anthropology for many years. In 2001, he joined BU’s sociology department, serving as chair until 2007.

In 1978, Stone founded the journal Ethnic and Racial Studies (ERS) and was its chief editor for 10 years. ERS was the first social science journal devoted to the study of race and ethnicity, and its influence on other scholars in the field was profound.

He was the author or editor of at least nine books, and published widely on race, ethnicity, colonialism, nationalism, and migration. He coedited Alexis de Tocqueville on Democracy, Revolution, and Society (University of Chicago Press, 1980), with Stephen Mennell; the book was reissued and translated into many languages. His 2003 coedited book, Race and Ethnicity: Comparative and Theoretical Approaches (Wiley-Blackwell), with Rutledge Dennis, was recognized as the definitive introduction to the field and widely assigned as required reading to students. He coauthored Racial Conflict in Global Society (Polity Press, 2014) with Polly S. Rizova (GRS’03). And, in 2020, he coedited the five-volume Wiley Blackwell Companion to Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism with Dennis, Rizova, and Xiaoshuo Hou (GRS’08).

Students flocked to Stone for the wise, committed, and compassionate mentorship he consistently provided.

His BU colleagues regarded him as witty and self-deprecating, always willing to offer cogent editorial remarks on their manuscripts. In their tribute, they wrote: “To many in the sociology department, John was a friend, and, to some, a mentor, who never missed an opportunity to share a joke or a laugh. That moment always seemed more important than anything else that we were doing. He combined sardonic wit with a warm and buoyant personality and went out of his way to help students and the department whether that need was large or small. He cared about people and lifted up those around him. He was kind and funny and a calm voice of reason amid challenging circumstances and an incredible source of knowledge and insight about the department’s history.”

Japonica Brown-Saracino, CAS professor and chair of the sociology department, describes Stone as a warm colleague and mentor: “He was incredibly dedicated to his students, and approached academic life with steadfast kindness, levity, and calm. We will miss him greatly.”