May His Memory Be an Inspiration

February 21, 2022 9:59 AM

Dr. Paul Farmer, global health champion, Harvard Medical School professor, anthropologist and founder of the nonprofit health organization Partners in Health, has died at age 62. Farmer was the subject of Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder
posted by theora55 (33 comments total)

That's devastating.

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posted by glaucon at 10:09 AM on February 21, 2022 [3 favorites]

I only know him through his writing, but I love this man and found him, from my perspective, to be a compassionate genius. His lost will be felt by many for a long time.
posted by craniac at 10:12 AM on February 21, 2022 [7 favorites]

goddamit. too soon. too fucking soon.

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posted by lalochezia at 10:29 AM on February 21, 2022 [4 favorites]

The best person I have ever known. So fight me.
posted by homerica at 10:37 AM on February 21, 2022 [5 favorites]

Oh no. I was so upset to see he had signed into that awful Harvard letter. He had done so much work that I really admired. I hope his goal of setting up PIH to be able to run without him will prove to have worked.
posted by bilabial at 10:54 AM on February 21, 2022 [8 favorites]

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Farmer, along with nearly all of the other signers, retracted his signature to the awful Harvard letter.
posted by spamloaf at 11:28 AM on February 21, 2022 [8 favorites]

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posted by Glinn at 11:37 AM on February 21, 2022

What a big person. What a big loss.
posted by Dashy at 11:43 AM on February 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

bilabial, I was saddened to see his name in that original open letter, too, because he seemed like precisely the kind of person to weigh how complicated such situations are before adding his name. A good opportunity to be reminded that there is no pure thing on the face of the planet, and to fight for the best of his legacy, acknowledging that he was human and fully capable of making mistakes.

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posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 12:03 PM on February 21, 2022 [11 favorites]

Thank you Dr. Farmer.

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posted by tristeza at 12:54 PM on February 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

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posted by eckeric at 12:55 PM on February 21, 2022

Oh my god. Unexpected, and far too young.

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posted by dlugoczaj at 1:00 PM on February 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

I also only knew him from his writing, and was saddened to see this.
posted by Dip Flash at 1:05 PM on February 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

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posted by jameaterblues at 1:11 PM on February 21, 2022

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https://www.pih.org/
posted by Don Pepino at 1:19 PM on February 21, 2022 [5 favorites]

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posted by jquinby at 1:28 PM on February 21, 2022

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posted by ourobouros at 2:00 PM on February 21, 2022

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:'(((((
posted by erattacorrige at 2:53 PM on February 21, 2022

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That was a kick to the gut I wasn't expecting - such a loss.
posted by esoteric things at 2:59 PM on February 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

His apology.
posted by latkes at 3:02 PM on February 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

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posted by Kangaroo at 3:47 PM on February 21, 2022

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posted by JoeXIII007 at 4:31 PM on February 21, 2022

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posted by sammyo at 4:44 PM on February 21, 2022

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posted by arachnidette at 5:51 PM on February 21, 2022

I did not know Farmer signed the letter and it baffled me but then I remembered how vulnerable and insecure academics are. Very thankful he apologized. He was a great and good man.
posted by mygraycatbongo at 6:34 PM on February 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

He was so young! I read Tracy Kidder's book quite a while ago, and it's a shock to realize how young Farmer still was. What a shame.
posted by suelac at 10:23 PM on February 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

A wonderful tribute from John Green:

Opinion: How Paul Farmer helped save the lives of millions of people
posted by lazaruslong at 2:37 AM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

I have literally been feeling ill since hearing this news. Reading Pathologies of Power in college changed my life. I used to give away copies of Mountains Beyond Mountains with an evangelical fervor. I've seen Farmer speak multiple times, and afterwards, when hundreds of people would line up to meet him, he would take the time to talk with each one and not only sign their books but write a thoughtful inscription. He was someone who was struck the (extremely difficult, in my mind) balance of thinking broadly about questions of global-level justice and living that commitment through a constant stream of small acts of kindness that touched everyone from the world's most vulnerable people to an annoying privileged grad student taking up with his time with one more freaking book signing (me). Looking through yesterday's social media outpouring, the range of people who felt a deep connection to this man, whether they knew him personally or not, is vast.

His signature on the Comaroff letter was a painful moment for many people. My own reaction to it at the time was disappointed, snarky "And that's why we don't have heroes" that I feel sort of weird and gross about right now, even if it's not incorrect. I can't find it, but there was a tweet yesterday from someone who knew him that said something along the lines of believing that, given more time to reflect on and repair the damage, he would have. I am struck by how very flawed all of us, even the absolute best of us, are, and how very little time we each have, and the immense scale of the challenges we face. Beyond mountains, there are mountains.
posted by naoko at 9:36 AM on February 22, 2022 [4 favorites]

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posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 10:52 AM on February 22, 2022

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posted by bunderful at 11:14 AM on February 22, 2022

If you can read the LRB, Farmer wrote a great article on who lives, who dies, and the “House of Yes” in 2015.
posted by Hypatia at 12:42 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Such a huge loss and far too young!
posted by leslies at 5:02 AM on February 23, 2022

‘He Wanted to Make the Whole World His Patient’, Tracy Kidder
posted by theora55 at 6:57 AM on February 23, 2022 [1 favorite]