Bernd Lambert

Bernd Lambert (1932-2015). Cornell University Professor Emeritus, respected colleague, beloved mentor, brother, uncle and friend, died Saturday, January 03, 2015 at his home. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, he lived in Sofia, Bulgaria until 1941 when he immigrated to the United States with his parents and sister. He grew up in San Francisco, California, and received his Bachelor's degree and PhD in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, he was appointed to the faculty at Cornell University where he taught from 1964 until his retirement. He did his anthropological fieldwork in what were then the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati), and completed his dissertation "Rank and Ramage in the Northern Gilbert Islands" in 1963. In addition to his work on kinship and linguistics in Oceania/Micronesia, he published research on kinship in the Andes, and he taught the first courses on Native America in the Cornell Anthropology Department. He will be remembered for his kindness, humility, sense of humor, and voracious intellect. He is survived by his sister, Marion Lambert Brackett, of Oakland, California, his nephews David Brackett of Montreal, QC, Joe Pachinko of Ching Mai, Thailand, Charles Brackett of Oakland, California, and his grand-niece and grand-nephew, Sophie Barg Brackett and Frederick Barg Brackett, of Montreal, QC. Charitable donations in Bernd's memory may be directed to Amnesty International, amnestyusa.org. Inquiries may be made to [email protected]

Funeral services were held at Temple Beth-El on Thursday, January 08, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. with Rabbi Scott Glass officiating. Interment followed at the Lakeview Cemetery.