ABBOT ASTRIK L. GABRIEL, who directed Notre
Dame's Medieval Institute from 1952 to 1975, died May 16, 2005,
in Dujarie House at Holy Cross College. He was 97. A distinguished
figure on campus, Gabriel spoke English with a thick Hungarian
accent and booming voice. With an air of aristocracy, the internationally
respected scholar was a connoisseur of fine food and wine who
was known by sommeliers, chefs and maitre d's from South
Bend to New York to Paris. One of the world's foremost authorities
on medieval education, Gabriel was born in Pecs, Hungary, entered
religious life with the Order of Canons of Premontre in 1926,
and joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1948. Gabriel wrote numerous
books and articles on medieval university life and oversaw the
Notre Dame's Frank M. Folsom Ambrosiana Collection, an unprecedented
microfilm reproduction of all the manuscripts and drawings of
the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. The Astrik L. Gabriel University
Collection, including numerous books he donated, is among the
world's richest library collections on the history of universities.
During his Notre Dame tenure, Gabriel also served as a visiting
professor at Harvard, was twice a member of Princeton's Institute
for Advanced Study, was a member of French, Bavarian and Hungarian
Academies of Science, and was decorated by France, Italy and the
Holy See.
REV. GEORGE C. WISKIRCHEN, CSC, who had directed
the University's jazz band and assisted in the direction of Notre
Dame's marching band, died May 17, 2005,in South Bend at age 76.
Wiskirchen, a leading force behind the University's popular Collegiate
Jazz Festival, entered the Congregation of Holy Cross at Notre
Dame in 1948, graduated from the University in 1951, and was ordained
in 1955. One of the founding faculty members of the Notre Dame
High School for Boys in Niles, Illinois, Father Wiskirchen spent
17 years there, teaching religion and music, establishing the
band program and earning a national reputation as a pioneer in
high school jazz education. He earned a master's from Northwestern
University and became an instructor there in jazz education and
director of Northwestern's Jazz Workshop. He returned to Notre
Dame in 1972 to teach music, serve as a residence hall rector
and lend his talents and expertise to the marching band and the
University's jazz scene. He retired in 2002 and had been residing
at Holy Cross House, the retirement home for Holy Cross priests
on campus.
(July 2005)
