As the year comes to a close, we are taking time to remember the scholars, activists, writers, and professionals who have left us in 2024. As book publishers, authors come to us with projects that encompass years of their lives, it is our honor to be part of fostering and disseminating them. In the work left behind for us to pore over, their legacy lives.

Joan Acocella, a staff writer of the New Yorker, contributor to The New York Review of Books, and Dance critic, passed away in January of 2024. “’What she wrote for us,’ Emily Greenhouse, the editor of The Review, said in an email, ‘was often mischievous and always delicious—on crotch shots and cuss words, on Neapolitan hand gestures and Isadora Duncan’s emphasis on the solar plexus,'” shares the New York Times. At UNP, Joan Acocella was author of Willa Cather and the Politics of Criticism (Nebraska, 2000).

Norman H. Finkelstein, educator and prolific author known for shedding light on historical Jewish figures and experiences, passed away in January of 2024. In all, Finkelstein created more than 20 works for children and young adults. “From an early age, Finkelstein was fascinated with politics and world news. His passion for current events and his work with students dovetailed when he decided to try his hand at writing nonfiction that would hook young readers,” shares Publishers Weekly. At UNP, Finkelstein was author of Saying No to Hate (JPS, 2024), American Jewish History (JPS, 2007), Remember Not to Forget (JPS, 2004), Forged in Freedom (JPS, 2002), and Heeding the Call (JPS, 1997).

Edward K. Kaplan, Professor Emeritus at Brandeis University, passed away in February of 2024. “Ed was a committed, prolific, and noted scholar. He wrote more than a hundred and fifty articles and reviews as well as fifteen well-received books . . . [and] played a significant role in introducing and explaining Heschel to the French-speaking world,” writes Carol A. Fierke, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Brandeis University. At UNP, Kaplan was author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: Mind, Heart, Soul (JPS, 2019).

Maryse Condé, who first earned international acclaim with Segu (1984), a novel about West African experience and the slave trade, and was later called the “Grand Dame” of Francophone Literature, passed away in April of 2024. “She explored the history and culture of Africa, the West Indies, and Europe in work that made her a perennial favorite for the Nobel Prize,” writes the New York Times. At UNP, Condé was author or contributor to The Author as Cannibal (Nebraska, 2022), Land of Many Colors and Nanna-ya (Bison Books, 1999), and Conversations with Maryse Condé (Nebraska, 1996).

Alan Boye, a writer and former professor of English at Lyndon State College in Vermont, passed away in June of 2024. “At the college, he was instrumental in both setting academic standards for faculty as well as providing guidance on how to become better teachers and scholars,” shares his obituary in the Lincoln Journal Star. Born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, Boye was a frequent partner to UNP and author of Sustainable Compromises (Nebraska, 2014), A Guide to the Ghosts of Lincoln (Bison Books, 2013), The Complete Roadside Guide to Nebraska (Bison Books, 2007), and Tales from the Journey of the Dead (Nebraska, 2006).

Jeremy M. Johnston, former Curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum passed away in June of 2024. “Jeremy was a very active community member from the local to the national level . . . He was also a current member of the Park County Historical Society, Pahaska Corral of Westerners, Theodore Roosevelt Association, American Heritage Center, Big Horn Basin Scottish Society, Western History Association, Wyoming Humanities Council, The Cody Heritage Museum Board of Directors, and the Cosmos Club. He was dedicated to all of these worthy organizations and others, a testament to his incredible ability to value many causes, touching the lives of so many,” shares his Larkin Mortuary Obituary. At UNP, Johnston was series editor for The Papers of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and co-editor of Beckoning Frontiers (Bison Books, 2020).

James W. Hewitt, former president of the Friends of the Center for Great Plains Studies, passed away in July of 2024. Hewitt was an adjunct professor of history at Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. “His civic duties included board member and chairman of Bryan Memorial Hospital, the forerunner of Bryan Health; acting in many productions at the Lincoln Community Playhouse, sitting on the board of the Nebraska State Historical Society and the Nebraska State Historical Foundation, where he served as president twice; the Capital Environs Commission; and the Historic Preservation Commission,” shares the Hastings Tribune. At UNP, Hewitt was author of In Cold Storage (Bison Books, 2015) and Slipping Backward (Nebraska, 2007).

Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey Rock, a Grammy Award–winning African American female a cappella ensemble, and civil rights activist, passed away in July of 2024. “It is impossible to separate liberation struggles from song. And in the 1960s—at marches, and in jailhouses—the voice leading those songs was often Bernice Johnson Reagon. Her work as a scholar and activist continued throughout her life, in universities and concert halls, at protests, and in houses of worship,” shares NPR. At UNP, Reagon was author of If You Don’t Go, Don’t Hinder Me (Nebraska, 2001).

Sir Mike Jackson, a retired British Army officer and general, passed away in October of 2024. In 2003 Jackson was appointed chief of the general staff of the British Army. “His more lasting influence however lay in the reorganisation of the army’s infantry battalions, partly to save money, but also to account for the military’s changing role,” writes The Guardian. At UNP, Sir Mike Jackson was the foreword author of Sean Maloney’s Operation Kinetic (Potomac Books, 2018).