Anthropology professor dies

Almost one week after his death, friends and faculty members of the Department of Anthropology remember the impact William R. Adams, professor of anthropology, made in his 50 years of teaching at IU.\nDella Cook, a professor in the Department of Anthropology, said Adams was one of the warmest and most outgoing persons she has ever worked with. She said she will always admire Adams for the countless hours he committed to his work and his talent in working with students.\n"It didn't matter what you were interested in," Cook said, "He could reach and interest anyone. We'll miss him very much."\nAdams died in his home in Ellettsville last Friday. He was 80 years old and is survived by his wife, Connie, six children and nine grandchildren.\nBorn in Bloomington in 1923, Adams earned an undergraduate degree from IU in zoology in 1944. As an undergraduate, Adams and his father, William, who shared his son's interest in science, worked as a team as they scoured southern Indiana for prehistoric artifacts. Adams' studies in Indiana led to his first publication, "An Archaeological Survey of Monroe County, Indiana," which he co-wrote with his father.\nIn the 1940s, Adams applied his experience in science to assisting police departments as a forensic anthropologist by instructing classes on forensic identifications at the Indiana Conservation Officers Enforcement Training School.\nIn 1949, Adams earned an advanced degree from the anthropology department, and from 1955 to 2002, worked as a professor of anthropology and zooarchaeology, the study of non-human organisms.\nAdams' work in zooarchaeology required countless hours of work and thousands of skeletal specimens. His collection, which is kept inside the William R. Adams Laboratory of Zooarchaeology, has become one of the largest collections of its kind in the world.\nBut in order to keep up with his research, Adams was always searching for student volunteers. Anthropology professor Paul Jamieson said the fact that Adams could find students willing to de-flesh animal carcasses without pay is testament to how valuable his work was.\n"Explaining the worth of research so students could get past the bad smell of dead animals probably wasn't the easiest job," Jamieson said. "But he had a talent for seeking out people who shared his interests."\nOnce while driving through Texas, Jamieson even found himself helping Adams when he stopped on the road to pick up a dead armadillo for Adams' research collection. \n"I stopped the car, tied the carcass to the roof rack of the car and brought it back to Bloomington," he said. "When he saw it, he was thrilled." \nPatrick Munson, a professor in the Department of Anthropology, said each time he passes the Adams Laboratory he will remember the tireless devotion Adams had for his work and his students.\n"He was a tremendous service to the department and the University," he said. "Many of his students went on to pursue careers in his field because of the influence he had on them."\nIn her 30 years of friendship with Adams, Cook said she will never forget the parties Adams and his wife used to throw for the students and professors in the department.\n"We always had a great time," she said. "They had a way of building a strong feeling of comradery within the department. It will never be the same without him."\n-- Contact senior writer Colin Kearns at cmkearns@indiana.edu.