Professor Daniel L. Overmyer died peacefully at home after a short battle with cancer, with loving family members by his side.

Dr. Overmyer had a very distinguished career, teaching and publishing widely in the field of Chinese popular religion — a field he helped establish. His aim was to more fully understand traditional Chinese culture through exploring the historical development of Chinese religions and practices and to place Chinese religious phenomena in the context of world religious history. He will be remembered for his scholarly rigour, collegiality, generosity, and open-mindedness.

His kindness, that great crack of laughter and mischievous twinkle, his insistence on doing things right and on doing right, and his extraordinary energy that kept him active to the very end are all qualities we will miss with his passing.

Daniel Overmyer came from a missionary family based in Hunan province, China, for two long stints in the 1940s; Hong Kong; and the Philippines (see his charming memoir, My Life as I Remember It, written for his grandchildren). His memories include meeting pilots from the famous Flying Tigers brigade, hiking along mountain trails, encountering snakes, and blowing up a toilet by dropping a lighted firecracker in the bowl.

He developed polio in 1945, which he describes as not being as serious as some cases, but he suffered from post-polio syndrome after retirement which affected his ability to walk. However, after medical treatment in 2015, he began walking again with the aid of a  walker and was driving his car almost to the end of his life.  

Dr. Overmyer travelled widely throughout his life, enjoying both family holidays and longer research stints in various parts of the world. His second home on the Oregon coast was a source of delight, but he also revelled in the natural beauties of Vancouver and British Columbia. He served for many years as President of Nature Vancouver. One of his proudest achievements was being instrumental in successfully lobbying for the creation of the Pacific Spirit Park on the Endowment Lands close to UBC, a vast protected forested green space filled with winding trails that has brought enormous pleasure to countless visitors over the years.

He leaves behind his daughter, Rebecca (Becky); his son, Mark Overmyer-Velasquez; five grandchildren; and a sister, Mary Beth. His beloved wife Estella of 53 years predeceased him in 2018.

Professor Overmyer did not set out to study China or Chinese religions, gaining a BA in Biology and a BD in Church History, but in 1966, he earned a MA in the History of Religions at the University of Chicago and a PhD at Chicago in Chinese Religions in 1971. He taught at Oberlin College from 1970-73, joining the Department of Asian Studies at UBC in 1973 as an assistant professor, becoming a full professor in 1984, and retiring in 2000.

During his time at UBC, he held visiting teaching and research positions at Princeton (1983: Virginia and Richard Stewart Lecturer, Senior Fellow in the Council of Humanities, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Religion); University of California, Berkeley (1985-86); and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (1996-98, Acting Chair and Senate member 1997-98). He was also for a time Honorary Professor at Shanghai Normal University.

He received many prestigious awards and distinctions over the course of his career at UBC, including the UBC Killam Faculty Teaching Prize in 2000 and the UBC Killam Faculty Research Prize in 1986. He was Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1988. He received grants (sometimes more than once) from institutions such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Canada Council, SSHRC, Kameyama Fund in Buddhist Studies, and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation.

Professor Overmyer served in many capacities during his tenure at UBC, including Acting head, Department of Religious Studies, 1984-85; Head, Asian Studies, 1986-1991; and Chair, Centre for Chinese Research, Institute of Asian Research, 1991-1992. He was also Faculty Fellow at St. John’s and Green Colleges, amongst numerous other roles. He supervised nearly a dozen PhD and a similar number of MA students at UBC, several of whom have continued in the field. In 2009, two of his former PhD students, Philip Clart and Paul Crowe, edited a Festschrift in his honour: The People and the Dao: New Studies of Chinese Religions in Honour of Daniel L. Overmyer (Institut Monumenta Serica, 2009).

https://asia.ubc.ca/news/in-memoriam-daniel-overmyer-1935-2021/