Founding Director and Professor, UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies

We remember with deep gratitude Professor Anthony Reid – distinguished scholar and founding director of the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS). A true pioneer in Southeast Asian history and a visionary institution builder, Reid left a legacy that continues to shape the field and inspire generations of students and scholars.

Anthony Reid joined UCLA as faculty in the late 1990s with a clear purpose: to create a robust center that truly reflected the complexity and diversity of Southeast Asia while engaging directly with the region’s growing diasporic communities at UCLA and in Southern California. In 1999, with strong support from university leadership, that vision became a reality. The new Center for Southeast Asian Studies opened with dedicated faculty, language instructors, and a librarian – an ambitious foundation for a thriving academic community.

Under Reid’s leadership, CSEAS quickly became a center of collaboration and shared purpose. New faculty hires broadened its reach across disciplines and advanced its inclusive mission. Events drew scholars, students, and community members together. Above all, Reid worked tirelessly to build an intellectual community founded on rigorous scholarship, mentorship, friendship, and joy.

Reid’s commitment to building institutions went far beyond UCLA. After leaving Los Angeles, he served as the founding director of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore and remained deeply engaged in research at the Australian National University. His publications – including Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450–1680 (Yale, 1990), A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), and Mataram: A Novel of Love, Faith and Power in Early Java (Monsoon Books, 2019), are lasting contributions to Southeast Asian historiography.

In a 2020 interview, Reid looked back on his time at UCLA with warmth and pride, delighted to see the center he founded continuing to flourish. Today, as the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies celebrates its 25th anniversary, we recognize how much of its success rests on his vision, leadership, and generosity.

We are profoundly thankful for Anthony Reid’s enduring legacy.

May he rest in peace.