Res. No. 1085 Title Resolution mourning the death and celebrating the life, works, achievements and sacrifice of Professor Edward W. Said. Body By Council Members Barron and Quinn Whereas, On September 25, 2003, Professor Edward W. Said, renowned activist, scholar and prolific literary critic, died of leukemia; and Whereas, Professor Said was born in Jerusalem, then part of British-ruled Palestine, on November 1, 1935. At the age of 17, he moved to the United States as a student, where he received a bachelor's degree from Princeton in 1957 and a Master's and Ph.D. from Harvard, in 1960 and 1964; and Whereas, Professor Said was the nation's leading activist for the Palestinian cause, and one of the foremost intellectuals on the Middle East; and Whereas, Professor Said advocated vigorously for the Palestinian struggle while serving as a member of the Palestinian National Council between 1977 and 1991; and Whereas, In 1993 Professor Said denounced the Oslo peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization and publicly demanded Yasser Arafat's resignation; and Whereas, In 2002 Professor Said was named the winner of Spain's Prince of Asturias Concord Prize for his efforts aimed at bringing peace to the Middle East; and Whereas, Professor Said was a professor of English and comparative literature and chair of the doctoral program in comparative literature at Columbia University and the author of over a dozen books; and Whereas, The death of Professor Edward Said is a tremendous loss for the Palestinian and academic communities and his commitment to justice and freedom will be truly missed; now, therefore be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York mourns the death and celebrates the life and legacy of Professor Edward W. Said. MF:bg LS#3280 10/9/03 |10
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