Stanley Spector, professor emeritus in Asian
and Near Eastern studies, dies at 74

Spector: International authority on China

Stanley Spector, Ph.D., professor emeritus of Chinese studies in Arts and Sciences, died of pancreatic cancer Friday, Jan. 29, 1999, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He was 74.

Spector came to the University in 1955 and served as chair of the Department of Chinese and Japanese (now Asian and Near Eastern languages and literatures) from its inception in 1963 until 1973. He also served as chair of the Committee on Asian Studies and as director of International Studies from 1971 to 1989. He was granted emeritus status in 1989.

Spector was active in building the East Asian Library within the University Libraries system and in the early 1960s developed Japanese and Chinese language programs in the secondary schools of St. Louis (the Mark Twain Institute).

He served as president of the Association of Chinese Language Teachers for two terms and as president of the Midwest Conference on Asian Studies. In the later 1960s, he was director of the Washington-Waseda exchange program, in the course of which he served as an associate director of the International Division of Waseda University in Tokyo. He also was proud of his involvement in the establishment of "sister city" programs between St. Louis and Nanjing, China, in 1979 and with Suwa, Japan, in 1974.

Spector wrote two books in the field of modern Chinese history -- "Li Hung-chang and the Huai Army" and "The Essential Mao" and co-edited "Guide to the Memorials of Seven Leading Officials of 19th Century China" and "Our Oriental Americans."

In honor of his accomplishments, the University established the annual Stanley Spector Lecture in East Asian History and Civilization in 1994.

Born in New York City in 1924, Spector received a bachelor's degree in education in 1946 from the City College of New York. He served briefly in the U.S. Naval Reserves during World War II and subsequently earned a doctorate in East Asian history in 1954 from the University of Washington in Seattle, with additional study at the London School of Oriental and African Studies in 1950-51.

Among the survivors are his wife, Betty Spector; a brother, Bertram Spector of Juno Beach, Fla.; a daughter, Stephanie Van Denberg of Long Island, N.Y.; two sons, Lee Spector of Woodbury Heights, N.J., and Jon Spector of Atlanta, Ga.; two stepsons, Pat Lee Spector of Ladue and David Y.S. Lee of Cape Girardeau, Mo.; five grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

Plans for a memorial program are being prepared for early April. For more information, call Debra Jones at 935-5156. Donations can be made to the Stanley Spector Memorial Fund, Box 1111, One Brookings Drive, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., 63130-4899.