One of the great historical enterprises of modern scholarship on the Middle Ages is the edition and publication of works of medieval philosophers and theologians. Unlike the great nationalist-inspired projects like the Monumenta Germaniae Historica or the Rolls Series or the well-defined projects of the Maurists and Bollandists, the editors of the great medieval thinkers usually labor alone or in small teams dependent on small government grants or the wavering sponsorship of religious or national organizations. And there is much to do given how few medieval theological works exist in adequate critical editions, even for such central figures as Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham. Rescuing and making accessible the monuments of medieval philosophy has been the life work of Girard J. Etzkorn, professor emeritus of the Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University, for which the Medieval Academy of America is honoring him with the 2011 Robert L. Kindrick-CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies.

Professor Etzkorn possesses a unique curriculum vitae, hardly possible except in the United States of the mid-twentieth century and the Roman Catholic Church before Vatican II. Born in Missouri in 1927, he came of age in the final days of the Second World War, serving in Japan during the American occupation there. He returned to the States and was inspired to take up a religious vocation, joining the Franciscan order, obtaining a bachelor of philosophy at Quincy College, and completing studies for the priesthood. After ordination as a priest, he was sent to the still-bilingual Université de Louvain, where he completed a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1961. He returned to his alma mater, Quincy, where he taught until 1971, after which, having left the priesthood, he took up a post at St. Bonaventure from which he retired in 1995.

Equipped with a formidable repertoire of languages and skills in paleography and manuscript studies, Girard Etzkorn has dedicated himself to the works of the great Franciscan theologians since the publication of his first article on Duns Scotus in 1955. He has edited or coedited the works of Roger Marston, John Pecham, William of Ockham, Duns Scotus, and Walter Chatton. Since retirement he has redoubled his efforts by cooperating in editions of works by Henry of Ghent and Francis of Marchia. All scholars of late-medieval thought are very much in his debt, and we of the Medieval Academy wish him many more years of productive work in the future.

Respectfully submitted,
ROBERT E. BJORK
PAUL E. SZARMACH
JAMES M. MURRAY, Chair