ELLIOTT PERCIVAL SKINNER

Elliott Percival Skinner, a resident of Watergate South since 2000, passed away peacefully on April 1, 2007.He will be greatly missed by his wife of 25 years, Dr. Gwendolyn Mikell, his children Victor, Gail, Touray, Sagha, and Luce, 7 grandchildren, 1 great grandchild, 4 siblings, and a host of uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, in-laws, and other relatives, colleagues and friends.

Dr. Skinner was Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology - Emeritus, of Columbia University in New York City, where he taught for 40 years.Born in Trinidad and Tobago, he arrived in the United States just in time to serve in the U.S. Army in the European Theater of Operations from 1943 to 1946, he attended the University of Neufchatel in Switzerland prior to returning home.He received his B.A. from the University College of New York University, and received his M.A. in Anthropology as well as his Ph.D. in Anthropology (1955) from the Graduate Faculties of Columbia University.In 1966 he was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson as the United States Ambassador to Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) and served until 1969.In 1968, while serving as Ambassador he was awarded the Commandeur de l’Ordre National Voltaique by the President of the Republic of Upper Volta.

He served as Chairman of the Anthropology Department at Columbia from 1972 to 1975.In addition, he has held a number of prestigious fellowships including a Guggenheim and the Fulbright 40^th Anniversary Distinguished Fellowship at the University of Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire (1987). He was the former Chairman of the Association of Black American Ambassadors, a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Bridgeport, a member of the Council of American Ambassadors, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 1976.He was a prolific writer, and the author of over twelve books beginning with The Mossi of Upper Volta (1964), including African Urban Life: The Transformation of Ouagadougou which won the Herskovits Award for the best book on Africa in 1975, as well as African Americans and United States Policy Toward Africa, 1850-1924, Vol. I (1993).

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday April 10, 2007 at Rankin Chapel of Howard University in Washington DC.The Viewing will be at 10:00 a.m. and the Funeral at 11:00, with the repast to follow at Blackburn Center.

In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to the Elliott P. Skinner Scholarship Fund of the Anthropology Department at Columbia University, 452 Schermerhorn Ext., Mail Code 5523, New York, NY 10027-7003. Please make all contributions payable to Columbia University.