The Passing of a Legend

Dr. Christopher Coker, iconoclastic professor of international politics and war -- and my grad school adviser -- dies at 70.

This week I learned that Christopher Coker, my “tutor” during my year at the London School of Economics and a mentor ever since, passed away the day after Labor Day. He was a professor of international relations at the LSE for four decades, before “retiring” to direct LSE Ideas, a sort of in-house foreign-policy think tank.

I didn’t realize he was 70, th…