In MemoriamAptullah Kuran, distinguished scholar of Ottoman architecture and founding president of Bogazigi University, died in Istanbul on 1 April 2002 after suffering a heart attack. He was seventy-four.Kuran received his secondary education at Robert College of Istanbul, at the time situated on the very campus that would become Bogazigi University. Following his graduation in 1948, he went on to Yale, where he received Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Architecture in 1952 and 1954. His family in Turkey fell on hard times soon after he started his studies at Yale, so he financed much of his education by working as a newscaster at the Voice of America in New York. It was in New Haven that he met his wife, Sylvia, then a student at the university's Drama School.After returning to Turkey and completing his military service, Aptullah Kuran launched what would be a long and multi-faceted career as an architect, scholar, professor, and university administrator. He designed a number of important private and public buildings in Istanbul and Ankara, including Perkins Hall at Robert College and the Iranian Cultural Center in Ankara. In 1957 he joined the Faculty of Architecture of the newly formed Middle East Technical University in Ankara, where he served for eleven years, including eight years as Dean of the Faculty of Architecture. This period saw the publication of two of his important books: The Mosque in Early Ottoman Architecture, still an important reference on the subject, and Anatolian Medreses.In 1968 he returned to Robert College, where he oversaw the difficult task of transferring the ownership of the school's higher education complex from an American board of trustees based in New York to the Turkish government, and the transformation of the reorganized campus from a small college focused on engineering and business administration into a large and diverse research university. He served as Bogazigi University's president from 1971 to 1979 and as chair of its History Department from 1981 to his retirement in 1994. In the latter capacity, he oversaw the creation of a highly respected graduate program.While he held these important administrative positions, Aptullah Kuran remained active as a scholar. His third major work, Mimar Sinan, appeared in Turkish in 1986, and a year later in English under the title Sinan: The Grand Old Master of Ottoman Architecture. Kuran also traveled widely as a guest lecturer and visiting scholar, both in the US and in the Middle East. He trained numerous scholars and influenced many others, through his scholarship, his contributions to the growth of higher education in Turkey, and his generosity. An indication of the high regard in which he was held is the festschrift published in his honor in 1999 with contributions from thirty-eight former students and colleagues.Aptullah Kuran's final resting place is the beautiful and historic Ajiyan cemetery, just down the hill from Bogazigi University, overlooking the Bosphorus, whose beauty and historical significance inspired him througho...
