Trace and tribute: Evan Weissman

• Main Author: Matthew Potteiger
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thomas A. Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems 2021-09-01
• Series: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
• Subjects: Tribute; Food Systems
• Online Access: http://foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/1009

First paragraph: Near the end of what was turning out to be a long Central New York winter and the beginning of an indeterminately long global pandemic, Professor Evan Weissman died unexpectedly. This sudden loss continues to be felt on many levels throughout the local community, as well as in the Syracuse University Food Studies and Food Systems Planning communities. Evan and I were planning to meet to start working on the final edits of FoodPlanCNY, a comprehensive food system plan for Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York. We had worked closely on this project for over three years, ranging from brainstorming the initial aims and objectives to all the hours of team meetings, interviews with stake­holders, writing, revising, integrating the process into our teaching, deciding whether the page format should have two columns of text or three, and more revisions. Completed in his absence, the project is now a trace that evokes Evan’s unique synthesis of deep ethics, rigorous scholarship, and community engagement. . . .