"S. TODD LOWRY, DISTINGUISHED FELLOW OF THE HISTORY OF ECONOMICS SOCIETY
I have known a relatively small number of truly brilliant people, some of them economists; some are historians of economic thought. I have enormous respect for them. Only one of them, however, elicits awe. That is Stanley Todd Lowry. The citation is unavailable on the HES website, which is regrettable:
I am truly in awe of Todd.
I have known Todd for many years. I have solicited and published his work. He has commissioned and published a number of my book reviews in History of Political Economy. We, with our wives, are good friends; I am proud to be a friend of this humble and decent man and this wonderful scholar. I not only remain in awe of Todd but my awe has grown over the years.
Often when we are together we go on walks. One typical pattern is for me to raise a topic and then listen, in awe, to Todd expostulate, at length and with finely drawn subtlety and nuance, on that topic.
Spencer Pack has written an essay on Todd for Historians of Economics and Economic Thought: The Construction of Disciplinary Memory, edited by Steve Medema and me and to be published later this year by Routledge. Spencer commences with Todd's emphasis on economics as an administrative science and the cognate methodological issues. He then examines, in turn, Todd's work in resource and environmental economics, especially the economics of forestry; his work in legal history and theory; ancient Greek economic thought, especially Xenophon, Plato, democracy and justice, Aristotle, and other aspects of pre-Classical economic thought. He has made striking contributions in each of these areas, not least in the interpretation of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics.
Todd has a doctorate in economics. He also has a law degree. He works in the original Greek. He has mastered not only the philosophy of economics but the philosophy of which economic thought is a part.
Even beyond his research and writing -- though certainly inclusive of these activities -- Todd, along with a few others, such as Barry Gordon, has engaged in efforts to keep alive the study of ancient, medieval, and later pre-Classical economic thought.
As if this were not enough, his research has been conducted and his writings undertaken by a man who is legally blind. If this is not awesome, then nothing is; if this does not send shivers up your spine, then nothing will. No one who was present when Todd gave his Presidential Address to this Society will forget the perfect delivery of a brilliant paper given
from memory and not read. Todd himself likely does not, until now, know the looks of awe I have sent his way on our walks; they are beyond his limited range of vision. Todd has set an example for all those with debilitating illnesses, of how to maximize within constraints, and how to do so with grace and humor.
Todd has been blessed to have Faye as his wife and helpmate. She is a dear woman and may be almost as talented as her husband.
Todd Lowry has clearly earned the distinction of being a Distinguished Fellow. Indeed, he has left the rest of us in his wake.
Warren Samuels"
As a side note, most citations of HES Distinguished Fellows from the 1990s and early 2000s are missing:
https://historyofeconomics.org/awards-and-honors/distinguished-fellow/
It would be great for our institutional memory if the list could be completed.
All the best,
Andrej
Andrej Svorenčík
Department of Economics
University of Pennsylvania
https://sites.google.com/view/andrejsvorencik/
most recent paper: https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jel.20221667