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Ernest Bender, Professor Emeritus of Indo-Aryan languages and literatures, University of Pennsylvania, passed away at his home, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, on 18th April, of an apparent heart attack. He was 77 years old. Professor Bender was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on January 2, 1919, and settled in Philadelphia at the age of four. He was admitted to the selective Greek and Latin program of Boys High School (Central High School), graduating in 1937. As an undergraduate at Temple University he continued his studies in Classics, firmly establishing a lifelong interest in philology and cultural history.
Upon taking the B.A. from Temple University in 1941, Bender became a graduate student in the Oriental Studies Department of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was introduced to the three teachers who were to have the deepest influence upon him: W. Norman Brown in Indology, and Zellig Harris and Henry Hoenigswald in Linguistics. Through Brown, Bender chose a career in Indology and a specialization in the field of medieval Jain religion, literature and art.
Shortly after the United States declared war on Japan, Bender...