In Memoriam: James J. Hentz (1955–2018)

Abstract

The founding editor in chief of African Security, Colonel James J. Hentz, passed away— suddenly and unexpectedly. Not only did his passing leave a gaping hole in the hearts of his beloved wife Michele and their two daughters, Julia and Katherine, that fateful day of February 17, 2018, it also devastated his colleagues at the Department of International Studies and Political Science, Virginia Military Institute, and sent shock waves across the membership of the editorial board of African Security. Those of us on the Editorial Board who had a chance to work closely with Colonel Hentz from the inception of his “baby” knew instinctively that James would have wanted us to carry on the work that he started with this scholarly publication. The publisher, Taylor & Francis Group, a leader in the scholarly publications industry since 1798, was also keen to continue the legacy of Colonel Hentz. They contacted members of the Editorial Board with a virtual SOS message asking about the possibility of someone who might be willing to serve in a pinch under the straitened circumstances to complete the volume that James was working on. Thankfully, Professor Ulf Engel of Leipzing University, Germany, valiantly stepped up and served as temporary editor in chief until an official bid for editorship of the journal was vetted. We (W. AndyKnight and Temitope Oriola) were appointed joint editors in chief ofAfrican Security in September 2018 for a five-year term. We welcome the opportunity to continue the legacy of Professor James Hertz and to build on the solid foundation that he left us. The founding editor in chief, James Hentz, a native of Philadelphia, earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s College. He then did a stint in American Samoa in the Marist Volunteer Teaching Program before teaching at a secondary school in Zambia. Upon his return to theUnited States, James earned amaster’s degree at GeorgetownUniversity, followed by a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1997, Hentz joined the faculty of Virginia Military Institute (VMI), becoming department head in 2006. He received a number of major honors, including the VMI Distinguished Teaching Award (2004), the Matthew Fontaine Maury Research Award (2006), the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award (2007), the Adams-Collins Faculty Research Award (2010), and the Virginia Social Science Association’s Scholar Award for Scholarship in international studies and political science (2014). Hentz was a visiting fellow at Hoover Institute, Stanford University (2008), as well as at Wolfson College, Cambridge University (2009). A bone fide scholar of security issues in sub-Saharan Africa and author of several scholarly articles and books on African security themes, Hentz developed an expertise in African political affairs and international relations from his days of teaching at Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa; at Saint Charles Lwanga Seminary in Zambia; and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Miklós Zrínyi National Defense University in Budapest, Hungary. James Hentz was a true global citizen and military scholar in every sense of the term. The Colonel was in the process of revising his manuscript entitled The Nature of War in Africa at the time of his untimely passing. Ian Taylor captured our collective grief in his heartfelt tribute published in May 2018. It is a compliment to Colonel James Hentz that it has taken two scholars to attempt to fill his enormous shoes. It is a tall order, but we will give it our best shot by encouraging AFRICAN SECURITY 2018, VOL. 11, NO. 4, 293–295 https://doi.org/10.1080/19392206.2018.1574069