On Sept 2, the anthropologist David Graeber passed away. The New York Review of Books has collected powerful statements of his academic colleagues and activist comrades which show the sheer range of his intellectual pursuits, the vigor with which he threw himself into political struggle — and just how heavy weighs the loss of this man who was for so many of us the very model of a scholar-activist.

David Graeber died last week, and in mourning his loss and considering his contributions, I read, at a friend’s suggestion, his 2011 summary of Occupy on the Al Jazeera website.

His friend and collaborator Andrej Grubacic reflects on Graeber’s wide-ranging contributions, from the long history of debt and class society, to the fundamental importance of generosity, care and play in our lives, to how we might grasp the possibilities of life beyond capitalism.