Amitai Etzioni

Amitai Etzioni, the Israeli-American sociologist who drew wide attention and storms of derision by fathering the Communitarian movement, a vision of society in which people are asked to care less about their own rights than about one another and the common good, died on Wednesday May 30 2023 at his home in Washington. He was 94. Born to German-Jewish parents who fled from Hitler to Palestine, Mr. Etzioni fought for Israeli independence, moved to the United States in 1957 and became an influential academic and political figure. Mr. Etzioni was famous for writing books and articles far afield from the turgid corners of sociology — provocative commentaries on the nuclear arms race, European security, the Vietnam War, America’s racial and educational problems, energy and inflation policies and popular worries over pornography, student unrest and topics ranging from sex therapy to Hollywood hoopla. He promoted Communitarianism, with its emphasis on community, not the individual, staked out ground between liberal advocates of civil liberties and welfare rights on one hand, and conservative champions of laissez-faire economics and traditional values on the other. He founded the Communitarian Network and its magazine, The Responsive Community. In 1995, he became president of the American Sociological Association. He was born Werner Falk in Cologne, Germany, on Jan. 4, 1929, to Willi and Gertrude (Hanauer) Falk. After his family escaped to Palestine he changed his name to Amitai Etzioni (Amitai means truth in Hebrew). In 1948, he fought in Israel’s war of independence, and two years later began sociology studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1954 and a master’s in 1956. Emigrating to the United States, he earned a doctorate at the University of California at Berkeley in 1958. By 1967 he was a full professor at Columbia University, and from 1969 to 1978 was chairman of Columbia’s Institute for War and Peace Studies. In 1953, he married Eva Horowitz. They had two sons, Ethan and Oren, and were divorced. In 1965, he married Minerva Morales, and had three more sons: Michael, David and Benjamin. His second wife died in a car crash in 1985. In 1992, Mr. Etzioni married Patricia Kellogg. In addition to David, he is survived by his wife; his sons Ethan, Oren and Benjamin; a stepson, Cliff Kellogg; a stepdaughter, Tamara Kellogg; 11 grandchildren; and two step-granddaughters. His son Michael died in 2006. Mr. Etzioni and his wife lived at the Watergate complex in Washington.