Ralph S. Solecki, an eminent American archaeologist and an influential member of the Columbia Anthropology faculty from 1959-1988, died on March 20 at the age of 101. He is best-known for his work in Iraq at Shanidar Cave, but he also carried out a great deal of research in the local New York region. He became interested in archaeology as a teenager growing up in Brooklyn, when he began work at sites on Long Island. He remained enthusiastic and active in both local and Near Eastern archaeology into retirement, continuing analyses and publishing into his late 90’s. He loved everything archaeological, and undertook research with both amateurs and professionals. William Solecki (one of Ralph’s sons) observed that because his father loved what he did, he never worked a day in his life.

After retiring, Ralph accepted a research position at Texas A & M, but after a few years returned to the New York area, where he remained in contact with Columbia and local archaeologists. However, he no longer continued his tradition of walking up to his 9th floor office everyday but used the elevator. In 2009 the Center for Archaeology inaugurated a prize in honor of Ralph and Rose Solecki, awarded to the student who had made the most significant contribution to archaeology at Columbia in the previous year. Ralph and Rose came to the first prize award ceremony, to make the award to Jennifer Thum. In this way and others Ralph continued to be an important part of student and faculty life at Columbia, long into retirement. His presence will be missed.