Clifford Backman, BU Today Write Memorials to Jon Westling
BU Today published an obituary remembering Professor Jon Westling, who died last week. The piece contains interviews with some of Professor Westling’s colleagues, both faculty and staff, and including Professor Clifford Backman and Professor James McCann.
Professor Backman has shared some further words commemorating Westling:
On an official level, Jon had a long and complicated history with our department; on a personal one, I shall miss the hours I spent with him discussing everything from English Common Law to obscure Canadian poets, the beauty of the American Northwest, Boston restaurants, and the strengths and weaknesses of various makes of motorcycles. As a fellow medievalist I was able to relate to Jon in a way that was perhaps unique among members of our department. I found him a good colleague and delightful conversationalist. Many of the students we shared commented to me on his impressively broad knowledge and ability to handle extemporaneously almost any question put to him. I shall miss his deep laugh, his lively opinions about everything — even the ones I disagreed with– and our medieval-nerdy emails written in Latin. His story is surely an unusual one, with a BA from Reed College, advanced study as a Rhodes Scholar at St. John’s College (Oxford), then rising through the administrative ranks at BU until finally reaching the presidency (1996-2002). His career was controversial. The man I knew was all the more interesting because of that.