Rick Condon, an anthropology professor due to be a visiting professor at Dartmouth during Winter and Spring terms, was lost at sea three weeks ago and is now presumed dead, according to Oran Young, the director of the Dickey Center Arctic Studies Institute.
The small ship that Condon and eight companions were traveling on became lost in the Bering Sea, which is located between Alaska and Russia, and all nine are now considered deceased, Young said.
Condon taught anthropology at the University of Arkansas and was the editor of Arctic Anthropology, a major anthropological journal, said Gail Osherenko, senior fellow at the Arctic Studies Institute.
Condon was supposed to arrive in Hanover on Dec. 1. Instead, a memorial service will be held for him in Arkansas on Dec. 14.
Osherenko and Young both said they knew Condon well and his disappearance and apparent death are a horrible tragedy.
"He was not only a first-rate anthropologist," Osherenko said, "but also a really decent human being -- a great guy."
Three of the people -- two Americans and one Russian -- who are lost at sea were scientists and were colleagues of Dartmouth professors, Young said.
The Russian, Alexander Pika, was a "leading social scientist," who was very involved in writing literature that demanded increased land and political rights for Russia's indigenous populations, Osherenko said.
"We lost two really good friends," Osherenko said.
The other Americans were Steven McNabb, an anthropologist from the Social Research Institute in Olympia, Wash., and Dr. William Richards of the Alaska Area Native Health Services, based in Anchorage, Alaska, according to a press release.
A translator and four native Siberian Yupiks were also on the ship, according to the release. Osherenko said the Yupik race is located in northeast Russia and Alaska.
The ship was reported lost Sept. 7 after it failed to arrive at its destination in the town of Provideniya on the Chukotka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, according to the press release.
The boat had departed from the town of Sireniki, which is on the Russian mainland.
The boat was 18-feet long and powered by a small outboard motor. Osherenko said it was last seen by a Russian fishing vessel, whose crew apparently noticed the little ship seemed overloaded with gear.
Osherenko said she understood the fishermen asked if the small craft needed assistance, but the nine people on the boat allegedly replied that they were fine.
Three of the passengers' bodies had been found -- but not Condon's, according to Young. But because of the extremely low sea water temperatures and the minimal chances for survival, all searches for the crew have been called off.
Condon is survived by his wife Pam, who is also an anthropologist, and their two daughters, Kimberly, age 10, and Morgan, age 7. Cordon's family planned to join him at Dartmouth soon after Christmas, Osherenko said.
Condon was in his early 40s, according to Osherenko.
Young said two charitable funds are being formed as memorials to Condon. One is the Richard Condon Memorial Fund, which will provide financial support to anthropology students at the University of Arkansas.
The other is the Condon Children College Fund, which will help fund his daughters' college education.
