Remembering Anthony Vidler

Professor Anthony Vidler (In Memoriam, December issue) will rightfully be remembered in endless sources as an architectural historian, writer, professor, and editor.

As far as Princeton is concerned, I would like to remind that Tony Vidler directed the European Cultural Studies Program in the early 1980s, an interdisciplinary program that included history, art history, anthropology, and theory — a maverick intention at the time. It skirted the departmental requirements, even if you needed to have at least one language requirement.

I wrote a letter supporting the European Cultural Studies Program. Later, I was awarded magna cum laude in independent studies through thesis seminars.

Tony Vidler believed in the humanities as an interdisciplinary field of study beyond his field of architecture, way before the overspecialization and tribalism of today. He opened a magical land of learning for me.

There are few with the cosmopolitanism, the language, and the grace to replace him. And, unlike many professors I knew, he truly loved teaching and his students.