Requiescat in pace

Allen Ross Scaife, 47, Professor of Classics at the University of Kentucky, died of cancer on March 15, at his home in Lexington, KY. Ross was born in Fredericksburg, VA on March 31, 1960. He graduated from the Tilton School in Tilton, NH in 1978 and from the College of William and Mary in 1982 with a major in Classics and Philosophy. He earned a PhD in 1990 in Classical Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1988 he participated in the summer program at the American Academy in Rome, and in 1985 was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for a year of study at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece.

From 1991 to the time of his death, Ross was on the faculty at the University of Kentucky in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literature, and Cultures where he taught courses on women in the ancient world, Greek art, Aristophanes, and the Greek historians, as well as Greek and Latin language courses. A pioneer in using computer technology to advance scholarship in the humanities, Ross was the founding editor of the Stoa Consortium for Electronic Publication in the Humanities. The Stoa (www.stoa.org/), established in 1997, set the standard for Open Access publication of digital humanities work in the classics, serving as an umbrella project for many diverse projects not supported by print publishers. He was the co-creator of Diotima: Materials for the Study of Women and Gender in the Ancient World and of the Neo-Latin Colloquia collection. Ross had a long-standing belief in the power of collaborative work, and he worked throughout his career to build working relationships among an international circle of collaborators. As a founding editor of the Suda On Line, a web accessible database for work on Byzantine Greek lexicography, Ross helped to build a framework that allowed a large number of people to work together on a single edition. Ross had long-term associations with Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies, the Perseus Project, and the Digital Classicist. Most recently, Ross was instrumental in forging the collaboration that resulted in the high resolution digital imaging of the Venetus A, a 10th century manuscript of the Iliad located at the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, and was an initiator in the project EDUCE, which aims to use non-invasive, volumetric scanning technologies for virtually "unwrapping" and visualizing ancient papyrus scrolls.

Since July, 2005 Ross has been the director of the Collaboratory for Research in Computing for Humanities, a research unit at the University of Kentucky which provides technical assistance to faculty who wish to undertake humanities computing projects, and to encourage and support inter-disciplinary partnerships between faculty at UKY and researchers around the world. Ross was highly involved in the activities of his family. He was a strong advocate of Latin study at the secondary level through support of his wife and Latin teacher Cathy Edwards Scaife, by providing enrichment resources, facilitating technology projects, and giving presentations at professional and student conferences.

He took pride in the academic, athletic, and musical achievements of his three sons, Lincoln (16), Adrian (13), and Russell (9). He loved to watch them play soccer, and to go sailing with them and the rest of his family in the Northern Neck of Virginia. He enjoyed hunting in Anderson County, KY, renovation and woodworking projects in their historic Lexington home, cooking ethnic foods, and photography.

In addition to his wife and children, Ross is survived by his parents, William and Sylvia Scaife of Fredericksburg, VA., and three siblings, Bill Scaife, Susan Duerksen, and John Scaife, as well as their spouses and children. A celebration of life service will be held on Sat, April 12, 2008 at 1pm at Memorial Hall at the University of Kentucky. Memorial donations may be made to the Swift/Longacre Scholarship Fund which provides support for students of classical studies at the University of Kentucky. Please make checks payable to the University of Kentucky and send in care of Dr. Jane Phillips, Department of MCLLC, 1055 Patterson Office Tower, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0027. Donations may also be sent to a college fund for his sons. Make checks payable to Scaife Scholarship Fund and mail to Chase, 727 E. Euclid Avenue, Lexington, KY, 40502. Arrangements by Care Cremation Service.

Published in the Lexington Herald-Leader on 3/23/2008.

Dr Scaife taught me classes in Greek language, the art of Greece and Rome, and women in the classical world. He encouraged me to seek a master's in Classics in addition to my undergraduate studies, and although I did not go on to get the higher degree, I sometimes think about going back to do just that.

I can't believe he's dead. A friend who gets the Sunday paper told YKWIA and me about it, since we were both Classics majors.

He was only seven years older than I am. It gives you pause when someone you know--and who is not much older--dies, bringing you a little closer to your own mortality.

My deepest sympathy is with his family at this time. The obituary's length says a lot about the lives he touched. I don't know if I'll be able to go to the memorial service on April 12th (it's a Saturday, and it's hard to get away from the store), but I'd like to. Somehow it seems fitting for a Classicist to die on the Ides of March (the date of Caesar's death, although the calendar is different from the ancient Roman one these days). Dr Scaife was always very kind to me and listened to my ideas and gave constructive advice. He has achieved a kind of immortality from his work, and I think the projects that he helped found will flourish as others step in to keep his memory alive. May he rest in peace.