Gill Howie

The medical humanities community notes with great sorrow the death of Professor Gill Howie on March 26 2013. Please scroll down for details of the funeral on Wednesday 10 April. An obituary appeared in the Guardian here.

The announcement made to the Philosophy in Europe Listserve appears below. In addition, we note Gill’s major contribution to the medical humanities through her AHRC network New Thinking on Living with Dying and in leading the development of a Northern Network for Medical Humanities. Our best wishes are with her family, friends and colleagues at this sad time.

Gill’s most influential work was in feminist philosophy, especially the intersections between Feminism, Marxism and Critical Theory. She published widely and edited a number of collections in these areas, including the widely read Third Wave Feminism: a Critical Exploration.  She was series editor of the Palgrave series ‘Breaking Feminist Waves’, and recently published Between Feminism and Materialism: A Question of Method (2010).

Her philosophical work grew out of her commitment to social and political activism. She served on the national executive committee of the AUT as well as of the British Philosophical Association and the Society for Women in Philosophy.  She was a conscientious and approachable Head of Philosophy, who cared deeply for the health and vigour of the Department.  She will be very much missed by her colleagues and students, by her two young sons, and all her friends.

More recently and in the light of her own experience of a long struggle with illness she led a number of interdisciplinary research projects aimed at exploring the philosophical significance of life-limiting illness. That she was unable to complete these projects adds to the sense of tragic untimeliness of her death.

Update from the Philos-L listserve on Tuesday 2 April:

Gill Howie’s funeral will be at 1.30pm on Wednesday 10th April, Springwood Crematorium Allerton. Springwood Ave, Garston, Liverpool L25 7UN.

Flowers are from family only; donations to Marie Curie. Here is a downloadable map for the crematorium.

Please visit this link for a presentation by Gill on Living with Dying and this link  for a series of workshops initially instigated by Gill.