AMINEF mourns the passing of Dr Thomas Hunter, a distinguished linguist and literary scholar, and two-time Fulbright award recipient in Indonesia, who died on September 20, 2022, at his home in Tabanan, Bali. He was 75.

His wife, Dr. Ni Wayan Ariati, announced his death on her Facebook page. A cremation ceremony in Tabanan took place on September 27, 2022.

Dr Hunter was a consummate scholar of Javanese and Balinese linguistics and literature, as well as South Asian literature, whose passing is deeply mourned by his contemporaries and community. He was a generous teacher and mentor.

“My special area of interest is the relationship of the ancient literature of South Asia and the literature of ancient Java and Bali,” he told an interviewer in 2017. “By studying the past—both ancient and recent—students can gain a better understanding of the sources of modern dilemmas and conflicts, as well as the cultural resources that can help sustain us in times of trouble and will enrich our lives in settled times,” he went on to say.

Dr Hunter taught Sanskrit and South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia from 2011 until 2018. He was awarded “Lecturer of the Year” in the Department of Asian Studies at UBC in 2015.

Before that, he held teaching and academic positions in various institutions — among them, the Institute of Anthropology of the University of Heidelberg, Hebrew University, Universitas Udayana, Universitas Gadjah Mada, University of Oregon, Charles Darwin University (Australia), and School for International Training (SIT) Study Abroad.

Dr Hunter received his master’s (1980) and doctorate (1988) in linguistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His bachelor’s degree in Indian civilizations was from the University of California, Berkeley (1977).

A talented musician and performer of the Indian sarod, Thomas devoted five years in the 1970s to studying North Indian instrumental and vocal music at the Ali Akbar College of Music, San Rafael, California.

His Indonesian journey began in 1981 when he won a FLAS Fellowship to study Indonesian at the University of Michigan and, later that summer, a COTI award to study advanced Indonesian at Universitas Satyawacana in Salatiga, Central Java. In 1983, he received a Fulbright–Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Award grant to conduct research in Central Java and Bali. He noted in a profile in the UBC Department of Asian Studies newsletter that the summer language course and the Fulbright experience were “… life-changing events,” he said in a profile.

In 1992, he received another Fulbright grant, this time the Fulbright U.S. Scholar award, to do research to compile a translation of an anthology of Old Javanese poetry affiliated with UGM in Yogya. That led to the publishing of a book of translations by the Lontar Foundation, entitled, Blossoms of Longing: Ancient Verses of Love and Lament. He had many academic articles and papers to his credit and also translated Mangunwijaya’s novel The Weaverbirds (Burung-burung Manyar) for Lontar in 1991 (republished 2014).

All of us at AMINEF offer our heartfelt condolences to his beloved wife, Dr Ni Wayan Ariati, his children, and loved ones.

Selamat berpulang Pak Tom.