The Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology is deeply saddened by the loss of Prof. Emeritus Robert C. Knapp.
At Berkeley, Robert was throughout his career a generous, effective, and tireless servant of his department and of the campus. In 1981-82, he was Assistant, and from 1983-87 Associate, Dean of the College of Letters and Science. From 1988-92 he served as Dean of Undergraduate Services in that College. In 1998-99, he was Interim Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and from 2000-2004 Chair of the Department of Classics. He also served as Director of the Graduate Group in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology in 1981, 1996, and 1998. The culmination of his campus service came in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005, when he was successively Vice-Chair, then Chair, of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate. In the year of his service as chair of the Senate, Robert also championed the establishment of Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology as a research center within the Department of Classics. He was the key figure in the determination of the new center’s shape, the securing of its funding, and the recruitment of its first director. He served as the chair of the Center’s advisory committee for more than a decade, long into his retirement, and remained a member of that committee for the rest of his life.
Robert is survived by his widow, Carolyn Knapp; their daughters, Abigail Cruz and Hannah Knapp; and their grandchildren, Ava Cruz and Gilbert and Henry Evans. Our heavy hearts are with them as they endure this difficult time. Please read our department’s appreciation here.
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