Eulogy to Professor Joseph Kostiner

Joseph Kostiner:
1949-2010

This piece below was written by my fellow classmate and colleague Tessa Harings.
She was a close friend and one of Tel Aviv University Professor Joseph Kostiner's brightest students. Professor Kostiner died of complications of various ailments this past August.

I asked her if she would write her thoughts about him. I am grateful she accepted.

I can only say that I had been empowered by Professor Kostiner'vast knowledge of the Middle East; his contributions were invaluable, serving as the foremost scholar of Saudi Arabia and the roles of tribes within this region of the world. He will be sorely missed.

I received the phone call I’d been dreading: Yosi Kostiner, my professor, adviser, and friend, was dead. Yosi was a father to me, but I wasn’t special: he was a father to all of his students who cared about learning. He was one of the few professors that I could say fully listened to what I had to say, and advised me based on the direction that I, not he, wanted to go in. He believed in me more than I believed in myself. Whenever we’d talk about the future, I’d say, “Well…I am not used to this field (history). It’s fun, it’s interesting, but I’m still not sure about … (fill-in-the-blank),” to which he’d wave a hand and reply, “I’m sure.”
He was working on three books regarding the Gulf states when he unexpectedly left us. I’ve got a chapter from one with his hand-written notes all over it, just a month old. I find it hard to believe that he won’t be here to look over my shoulder and make corrections or crack rude jokes. He was a wonderful person. A mensch.
I miss him already.