Ted Riccardi

PROF. THEODORE RICCARDI Professor Emeritus Columbia University, Ted Riccardi is an indologist, and a philologist whose chief interest is the history and culture of Nepal. He graduated from Harvard University in philosophy and later specialized in Oriental Studies. At Columbia University he served as chairman of what is now the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures and as Director of Columbia's Southern Asia Institute in the School of International and Public Affairs. Ted arrived in Nepal in 1965 where he was the resident director of the Fulbright office in Kathmandu and served as Counselor for Cultural Affairs at the American Embassy in New Delhi. He co-authored Introductory Hindi Readings (1972) and Advanced Bengali (1974), and wrote inumerous articles among them: An account of Nepal from the Vir Vinod of Shyamaldas (1975), The Nepala-rajaparampara: A short chronicle of the kings of Nepal (1986), and The inscription of King Manadeva at Changu Narayan (1989). In recognition of his exemplary research and publications on Himalayan history and cultures, he was personally awarded, in 1995, the prestigious Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu by King Birendra. In 2004 he received the International Golden Award from the Civil Forum, Nepal, for his scholarship. In 1999, Riccardi took early retirement from Columbia University to pursue independent scholarly studies, and take up a new career as a writer. Ted Riccardi lives in New York with his wife Ellen Coon and their two children, Miranda and Nicholas.