Kathleen V. Wilkes *74

Kathleen Wilkes died Aug. 21, 2003, after a life spent working on behalf of oppressed intellectuals in Eastern Europe before and after the fall of communism. She was 57.

Born in England to a family of Anglican vicars and Eton masters, Wilkes received a PhD in philosophy at Princeton, then returned to St. Hilda's College, Oxford, as fellow and tutor. Descended from the 18th-century radical John Wilkes, she publicly expressed mild socialist views and eschewed organized political protest. She preferred to work behind the scenes, spending her vacations on secret sorties behind the Iron Curtain. Committed to the disinterested pursuit of knowledge amongst oppressed intellectuals in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and later Croatia, Wilkes promoted philosophy as a compelling means of emancipation. She gave seminars to dissidents, delivered books and materials to underground publishers, and made contact with beleaguered colleagues — always one step ahead of the secret police.

For her valor during the Serbian shelling of the Croatian city of Dubrovnik and her devotion to the restoration of academic life there, Wilkes received, in recent years, many honors. According to the London Times, Wilkes was, in fact, "a seismic force, whose place in modern history is all the greater for being largely unknown."

The Graduate Alumni