Edward Charles Cuff:
Ted Cuff died, aged 76, on 24th, October 2014 shortly after
suffering a stroke. Ted was the author of Problems of Versions in Everyday Situations and
co-editor of and contributor to the widely used textbook Perspectives in Sociology (a sixth edition is in preparation). He
also co-edited Crisis in the Curriculum and
Doing Teaching. After graduating from
the LSE, Ted joined the Sociology Department at Didsbury College of Education,
Manchester in 1968, developing a small
but high quality sociology teaching department. The department was dissolved
owing to changes in education policy and administrative structures, with the
College being absorbed into Manchester Polytechnic, now Manchester Metropolitan
University. As Head of the Educational
Studies department Ted’s main focus became an administrative one, leading to
increasing disillusionment with both the direction of educational policy and
the priority of process over substance in the administrative setting. After only the
briefest reflection he took the
opportunity for early retirement in the
1980’s. In retirement he took a fine arts degree at Manchester University and
pursued his interests in opera, painting, theatre and, above all, literature,
though he continued close contact with his circle of sociological colleagues.
Ted was a founding member of the ‘Manchester School’ of Ethnomethodology,
making Didsbury an organising centre for the Group’s activity , creating there a
comprehensive archive of ethnomethodological
writings, many of which were then unpublished. He was much admired for the
fineness of his intelligence, the acuity of his judgement and the precision of
his prose as well as his nuanced mastery
of administrative skills. He set himself the highest standards of integrity, and will be affectionately remembered for his
warm, engaging and witty presence.
He is survived by Janet, his wife of fifty
four years, and by daughters Jacqueline and Susan.
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