| Emilio Willems, professor of anthropology, emeritus, died in Nashville
after a short illness Nov. 24. He was 92. A native of Cologne, Germany, Willems
received his education at the universities of Cologne, Berlin and Sao Paulo. After serving
as professor of sociology and anthropology at the University of Sao Paulo, he joined the
Vanderbilt faculty in 1949. He retired from teaching in 1974.
"I had the good fortune to know him," said Thomas Gregor, chairman of the
Department of Anthropology. "He was a wonderful, kind man, a very well-known and
respected anthropologist. He was very much of a classical school of scholarship in that he
was versed in several languages and intimately familiar with the culture and historical
traditions of his research focus, which was Latin America and especially Brazil."
A member of the American Anthropological Association, Willems was the author of more
than 150 professional articles and nine books, including "Followers of the New Faith:
Culture Change and the Rise of Protestantism in Brazil and Chile" (1967), "Latin
American Culture: An Anthropological Synthesis" (1975), and "A Way of Life and
Death: Three Centuries of Prussian-German Militarism" (1986).
Services were held at Marshall-Donnelly-Combs funeral home in Nashville, with the Rev.
James Mallett officiating. Survivors include Willems' wife, Hilda; two sons, Gilbert
Willems of Slidell, La., and Antenor Willems of Pittsburgh; six grandchildren; and 11
great-grandchildren. |
