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John D. Early is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Early joined the faculty of the Anthropology Department in 1969. He was chair of the department for several years and retired in 1993. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Master of Arts in Social Philosophy from St. Louis University, a Master of Arts in Theology from Woodstock College (a Jesuit Seminary), a Master of Arts in Sociology from Fordham University, and a PhD in Anthropology-Sociology from Harvard University (1965). Dr. Early began his career as a Jesuit priest, although he resigned from the priesthood in 1969. As a member of the Harvard-Chiapas Research Project, he went to Zinacantán to study Maya worldview and its Catholic elements. Later, his interest turned to demographic research as a planning basis for the literacy, cooperative and health programs in which he was involved among the Maya in Guatemala. It was also intended to bring to national and international attention to the severe malnutrition and high mortality among the Maya primarily as a result of social injustice. This interest then turned into fulltime research on the evolution of human population dynamics: for hunter-gathering groups as exemplified by the Agta in the Philippines, for tribal groups as exemplified by the Yanomami in Brazil, for peasants by the Maya in Mexico and Guatemala.

Samuel A. Portnoy (1920 - 2004) was a professor of History at Florida Atlantic University (1963-1991) in Boca Raton, Florida.  Dr. Portnoy was a native New Yorker and received his bachelor's degree and Ph.D.  from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and his master's from the University of Chicago. In 1963, he began teaching history at Florida Atlantic University where he was actively involved in the planning of the University's academic program.  He was also first chairman of the Department of History at FAU.  His areas of specialization include Russian and Soviet history, 19th and 20th century European history, and Modern Jewish history. Dr. Portnoy was also a prominent lecturer, speaking on subjects of current and historic importance.  These subjects included the Middle East, the Gorbachev revolution, German unification, and select topics in modern Jewish history (Hasidism, Zionism, Jewish labor and social movements in Europe and the United States), and various aspects of Yiddish culture.  Much of his research was focused on the Jewish Labor Bund and the life of Vladimir Medem, a Russian Jewish political leader.  Portnoy's publications include articles in both Yiddish and English for the journals Labor History, Dissent, and Yiddish. He is also the editor-translator of Vladimir Medem's memoirs entitled: The Life and Soul of a Legendary Jewish Socialist and Henryk Erlich and Victor Alter – Two Heroes and Martyrs for Jewish Socialism.