The unexpected death of Benedicte Gilman is a deep loss to her many friends and colleagues in the archaeological world. Born in Copenhagen, Benedicte studied prehistoric archaeology, anthropology, and mass communication; she knew about ten languages; and she traveled extensively and vigorously. Benedicte became Associate Editor at the Getty Research Institute in 1992 and was Senior Editor for Getty Publications from 1996 to 2009. Thereafter, she free-lanced for the Getty, the St. Louis Museum of Art, the American School of Classical Studies, the National Gallery of Art, and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.
Benedicte knew thoroughly the subjects of the manuscripts that she edited, noting: “The next best thing to knowing something, is knowing where to look it up.” She was a perfectionist, attentive to detail, forthright, and honest. Having spotted numerous factual errors in a manuscript, she commented, tongue in cheek: “Good luck on your revisions. They may be productive.” Among the fortunate authors who have been guided, corrected, and encouraged by Benedicte are Andrew Clark, Beth Cohen, Lorelei Corcoran, Elizabeth Cropper, Jens Daehner, Richard De Puma, Janet Grossman, Mary Louise Hart, Manolis Korres, Kenneth Lapatin, Claire Lyons, Miranda Marvin, Carol Mattusch, Mary Moore, Richard Neer, John Papadopoulos, Michael Pfrommer, Jerry Podany, Sirish Rao, Bruce Redford, Toby Schreiber, David Sider, Seymour Slive, Nigel Spivey, Michael Squire, Richard Stoneman, Marie Svoboda, Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, Oliver Taplin, Marion True, Karol Wight, Birgitta Wohl, and Gita Wolf.
To echo the words of Benedicte’s husband Antonio, What will we do without her? We send deepest regrets to Antonio, to Benedicte’s sons Nils and Lars, and to her five grandchildren, Io, Azra, Pico, Daphne, and Esme.
