Sir Raymond Firth, 100; Anthropologist Who Studied Pacific Cultures

Sir Raymond Firth, 100, a social anthropologist known for his studies of Pacific cultures, died Feb. 22 in London, the London School of Economics announced this week.

The New Zealand-born anthropologist was most famous for his studies of the Tikopia people in the British Solomon Islands. His 1936 book, “We the Tikopia,” a study of the social organization of the 1,200 islanders, was followed by nine more books on the Tikopia.

“He is their prime ethnographer and the historian young Tikopians read to find out who their pagan grandparents were and how they lived,” professor Peter Loizos of the London School of Economics wrote last year on Firth’s 100th birthday.

Educated at Auckland University College, Firth went to London in 1924 to study for his doctorate. He focused on the economics of New Zealand’s Maoris.

Firth lectured briefly at the University of Sydney before returning to the London School of Economics as a lecturer. He was named head of the university’s school of anthropology in 1938. Firth became a professor at the University of London in 1944 and took emeritus status after his retirement in 1968. He was knighted in 1973.