Kidder Smith (1944–2025)
To the Bowdoin community,
I am writing to share the sad news that early on September 29, Professor of Asian Studies and History Emeritus Kidder Smith died of leukemia at his home in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. He was 81. He is survived by his wife, Michelle, their partner, Kilaya, his brother, Hop, his daughter, Alice, and two grandchildren, Teddy and George.
Born in New York City on August 30, 1944, to G. E. and Dorothea Kidder Smith, Kidder attended Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from Princeton University in 1968, where he studied Chinese literature under the distinguished scholar Yu-Kung Kao. He continued his studies of Chinese in Taiwan with support from a Carnegie Foundation grant and earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1979. He spent a year as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Santa Clara in California, before joining the Bowdoin faculty in 1981.
Kidder’s scholarship focused on Chinese and East Asian history, literature, and culture, particularly the period from 500 to 200 B.C.E., which included the unification of the Chinese empire, the writings of Sun Tzu and Confucius, and the rise of Buddhism. He published widely in articles, essays, and reviews, and was the author or coauthor of several books, including Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching (senior author, 1990); Sun Tzu: The Art of War (as leader of the Denma Translation Group, 2001); and Having Once Paused: Poetry of Zen Master Ikkyū, an exploration of medieval Japanese aesthetics, co-authored with Sarah Messer in 2015.
At Bowdoin, Kidder offered a wide range of courses in East Asian history, language, literature, and culture that expanded and enriched the College’s curriculum. In 1986, he co-founded the interdisciplinary Asian Studies Program with Professor John Holt, made possible through a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. From those beginnings, the program flourished, drawing new resources, distinguished faculty, and a growing number of students. Kidder’s dedication to teaching helped define the program’s strength and reputation over the years. He was a devoted mentor and advisor to many Bowdoin students and approached each semester with enthusiasm; in a 2023 note, Kidder asked that the following be included in his Bowdoin obituary: “One thing Kidder was most proud of is that the bookstore knew him as the first professor to get his book orders in, every semester.”
After retiring in 2008, Kidder continued to pursue his intellectual passions with undiminished curiosity. Before settling in the mountains of Hot Springs, North Carolina, he spent time in Michigan studying Buddhism. His sixth book, Dakini Scription, is in press and a seventh was already underway.
We share with his family, friends, colleagues, and former students deep gratitude for his life and work, and for the enduring legacy he leaves at Bowdoin and beyond.
Sincerely,
Safa
I am writing to share the sad news that early on September 29, Professor of Asian Studies and History Emeritus Kidder Smith died of leukemia at his home in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. He was 81. He is survived by his wife, Michelle, their partner, Kilaya, his brother, Hop, his daughter, Alice, and two grandchildren, Teddy and George.
Born in New York City on August 30, 1944, to G. E. and Dorothea Kidder Smith, Kidder attended Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from Princeton University in 1968, where he studied Chinese literature under the distinguished scholar Yu-Kung Kao. He continued his studies of Chinese in Taiwan with support from a Carnegie Foundation grant and earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1979. He spent a year as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Santa Clara in California, before joining the Bowdoin faculty in 1981.
Kidder’s scholarship focused on Chinese and East Asian history, literature, and culture, particularly the period from 500 to 200 B.C.E., which included the unification of the Chinese empire, the writings of Sun Tzu and Confucius, and the rise of Buddhism. He published widely in articles, essays, and reviews, and was the author or coauthor of several books, including Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching (senior author, 1990); Sun Tzu: The Art of War (as leader of the Denma Translation Group, 2001); and Having Once Paused: Poetry of Zen Master Ikkyū, an exploration of medieval Japanese aesthetics, co-authored with Sarah Messer in 2015.
At Bowdoin, Kidder offered a wide range of courses in East Asian history, language, literature, and culture that expanded and enriched the College’s curriculum. In 1986, he co-founded the interdisciplinary Asian Studies Program with Professor John Holt, made possible through a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. From those beginnings, the program flourished, drawing new resources, distinguished faculty, and a growing number of students. Kidder’s dedication to teaching helped define the program’s strength and reputation over the years. He was a devoted mentor and advisor to many Bowdoin students and approached each semester with enthusiasm; in a 2023 note, Kidder asked that the following be included in his Bowdoin obituary: “One thing Kidder was most proud of is that the bookstore knew him as the first professor to get his book orders in, every semester.”
After retiring in 2008, Kidder continued to pursue his intellectual passions with undiminished curiosity. Before settling in the mountains of Hot Springs, North Carolina, he spent time in Michigan studying Buddhism. His sixth book, Dakini Scription, is in press and a seventh was already underway.
We share with his family, friends, colleagues, and former students deep gratitude for his life and work, and for the enduring legacy he leaves at Bowdoin and beyond.
Sincerely,
Safa