ANOTHER STAR HAS PASSED AWAY... Rest in peace Prof. Dr. Maxwell McCombs...

Another one of the people who made me who I am has left us.
Another star has passed from our lives.
Prof. Dr. Maxwell McCombs passed away at the age of 85.
…

When I saw the message this morning, it went through my mind like a movie...
Our friendship, as he called it, is over a quarter of a century old.
I met him when I started writing my PhD thesis on agenda-setting theory. He was the name father of the theory and he was alive! I can't tell you how happy I was overjoyed when I saw the first response from him.
 
There is no one in the field of communication sciences who does not know this theory today. I had the opportunity to learn from him a quarter of a century ago. I “bombarded him with questions” via e-mails. He once said...
 
And ever since that day, he has patiently responded to everything I wrote, to every question I asked...
He never took his hand off me. He was always there for me.
 
Then, I finished my thesis and together with another one of the people who made me who I am, my thesis advisor, the late Prof. Dr. Uğur Demiray, we did an extensive tour of Turkey with Dr. McCombs, Dr. Donald Shaw and Dr. Judith Litterst. Basilica, Cappadocia, Ihlara valley, Istanbul, Eskişehir, Nevşehir, Konya…

…

Thanks to him, I was a guest lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, where I met my dear friend Dr. Serra Görpe. Then we founded Communication in the Millennium, an international communication symposium, the 20th of which will be held in November this year. We organized it one year in the US and one year in Turkey. Thanks to this organization, hundreds of academics saw the US for the first time in their lives and presented papers in English in an academic environment for the first time in their lives.

...

In those days, it was not as easy to go to America as it is today. Maybe it is not easy today, but going to Ankara to get a gray passport and dealing with visa affairs was more of an ordeal than it is today. Many academics got this visa through the path we opened thanks to the symposium.

CIM, in short, became Turkey's longest-running symposium in the field of communication sciences and pioneered the realization of many similar symposia today.
 
Professor McCombs was the name father of the symposium as well as the theory of agenda-setting.

...

The last time we met face to face - it seems like yesterday - was in 2017 in Austin. He hosted me at his home in a way I will never forget. He always had health problems, but his face was always full of smiles, laughter, joy, jokes and anecdotes. 

What a precious person he was, what a precious family he had, what a precious wife (Betsy) and 4 children...

He wrote a foreword to my first agenda-setting book that I published in Turkish.

He introduced me as “my son” at a symposium we attended together in Poland.

I have many of his gifts and memories in my home and office...

...

Now in front of my eyes...

Then I think of that interview we did at the desk at Konya Selçuk University...

Me, with short hair...

In your 20s...

Dr. McCombs on one side of me, Dr. Shaw on the other...

What an honor for a young academic...

We met face to face almost every two years after that. We have been together at many universities in the US and Europe. We talked about agenda setting, we talked about content analysis, we talked about courses and students, we talked about the news agenda, about life...
...
He introduced me to many academics. My late Dr. Werner Severin, another star, another one of my teachers who made me who I am, and our friendship progressed thanks to him.

The late Dr. Jim Tankard, the late Dr. Robert Stevenson, Dr. David Weaver, whom I still keep in touch with, Dr. Wayne Wanta, Dr. Christina Ogan, Dr. Stephen Reese and many other esteemed professors whom we also hosted at the symposium...

He introduced me to many more names that touched my life...

Three years ago, we lost Dr. Shaw, the other namesake of agenda-setting theory, a close friend of Dr. McCombs.

And now Dr. McCombs...
One by one the stars are slipping away...

...

I just wrote Betsy a message. I expressed my condolences, and I told her that she was lucky to have such a husband. Dr. McCombs was very lucky to have a wife like Betsy.
 
He was not only one of the milestone scientists of communication sciences for me. I would not be who I am today without him. I learned a lot from him. He was a magic hand that touched my life.
 
I also learned a lot about life from him. We ate the most expensive dinners in the most luxurious restaurants together, we were also at a barbecue restaurant in the countryside. Most of all, I remember the sandwiches we ate in the garden of the university, on the greenery, in the shade of the trees, watching the squirrels. With his never-ending smile... Serra was with us too.
 
Dr. Serra Görpe and I attended his content analysis classes for a semester.
 
I have unforgettable memories of both his teaching and his relationships with his students...

...

We corresponded with Dr. McCombs throughout the summer. As his cancer treatment continued, I received news about his health, we talked about the pending article of our project, and I listened to his views for the 20th symposium.
 
Just last week, he told me about his last condition. As in this article, I tried to describe his irreplaceable place in my life and thanked him once again for everything.
It was like a final farewell...

And today, another star passed away.
Goodbye, professor.
Rest in peace where you lie.
I believe that you will shine from heaven with Dr. Uğur Demiray, Dr. Donald Shaw and other stars and wave to us.
I am also waving my hands behind you with tears in my eyes.

We hope to meet again one day, all together...
Your student, your friend, your son…
Erkan.

...

Probably 2002-2003, Austin, TX, with Prof. Dr. McCombs and Prof. Dr. Serra Görpe

2007, Indiana, with Prof. Dr. McCombs and Prof. Dr. David Weaver

2007, Indiana, Symposium family photo...

I think 2001-2002, Austin, McCombs' house, with Prof. Donald Shaw, Prof. Judith Litterst 

and Prof. Serra Görpe...

And the young I am... Year 2000, Selcuk University, Faculty of Communication, Interview with Prof. Dr. Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw

2000, our visit to Gordion with the late Prof. Dr. Uğur Demiray and our guests...

And then Cappadocia...

Our most recent photo, 2017, University of Texas at Austin