Robert A.F. Thurman, a Woodstock-area resident who became one of the country’s best-known interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism and helped build Menla Retreat & Dewa Spa in Phoenicia into a Catskills center for Buddhist teaching and healing arts, died Tuesday, June 16, in Woodstock. He was 84.
Thurman, a professor emeritus at Columbia University, was the father of actress Uma Thurman, a co-founder of Tibet House US, and a longtime friend and confidant of the Dalai Lama. E.B. Gormley Funeral Home in Phoenicia said Thurman, of Bearsville, died peacefully at his residence. A complete obituary had not yet been released.
Thurman’s death was announced Tuesday in social media posts from accounts operated by Thurman, Tibet House US, and Menla.
“The Thurman family requests privacy at this time,” the announcement said.
Thurman was widely described as the first Westerner ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk by the Dalai Lama. Over a long career as a scholar, translator, author, and public speaker, he helped introduce Tibetan Buddhist thought to American academic, cultural, and celebrity circles.
In a letter to Thurman’s widow, Nena Thurman, the Dalai Lama sent his condolences to the Thurman family.
“Bob lived a meaningful life and has left behind a legacy that will continue to inspire future students of Tibetan Buddhism and culture for generations to come,” the letter read. “I am sure that the merit he accumulated through a lifetime of service to humanity will bear fruit in lives to come.”
At Columbia, Thurman held the Jey Tsong Khapa Chair in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, which the university described as the first endowed chair in Buddhist studies in the West. He retired in 2019 after three decades at the university, where his work focused on Indo-Tibetan philosophy, psychology, spirituality, and the fate of Tibetan culture.
Thurman’s path to Buddhism began after an accident while he was a Harvard student left him without the use of one eye. He left school and traveled through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia before reaching India, where he studied Buddhism and met the Dalai Lama in the 1960s. He later returned to Harvard, where he earned a doctorate.
At the request of the Dalai Lama, Thurman co-founded Tibet House US in 1987 with Tenzin Tethong, Richard Gere, and Philip Glass. The New York City nonprofit was created to preserve and promote Tibetan culture in exile.
Thurman later helped establish Menla Retreat & Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, a project of Tibet House US on Pantherkill Road. The retreat center, set in the Catskills, offers Buddhist teachings, wellness programs, and retreats rooted in Tibetan and Asian healing traditions.
Menla’s website described Thurman as a close friend of the Dalai Lama’s for more than 50 years and as a worldwide lecturer on Tibetan Buddhism, an activist for the Tibetan people, a translator of Buddhist texts, and a writer of popular Buddhist books.
His books included “The Central Philosophy of Tibet,” “Essential Tibetan Buddhism,” “Inner Revolution,” “Infinite Life,” “Why the Dalai Lama Matters,” and, with Sharon Salzberg, “Love Your Enemies.” He also translated and edited Buddhist texts and helped found the Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences series through Columbia University Press.
In 1997, Time magazine named Thurman one of the 25 most influential Americans, describing him as a prominent scholar-activist bringing Buddhist teachings from Asia to the United States. His public profile was also shaped by his family’s connection to film, art, and celebrity culture.
Uma Thurman, his daughter with Nena von Schlebrügge, is known for her roles in “Pulp Fiction” and the “Kill Bill” films. She is also a member of the Woodstock Film Festival’s board of directors.
Thurman’s website framed his life’s work as a mission to preserve Tibetan culture and share Buddhist teachings with a wider public.
“Thanks to the Tibetan people, especially their living savior, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his various emanations, I have found basic sanity in my lifelong quest,” Thurman wrote in an undated statement on his website.
Funeral arrangements had not been announced as of Wednesday.
John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.
