UC Berkeley professor emeritus Michael Burawoy killed in hit-and-run crash in Oakland
A retired University of California, Berkeley professor was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Oakland on Monday, authorities confirmed.
Michael Burawoy was identified by the Alameda County Sheriff's Coroner Bureau on Tuesday as the victim in the collision. The 77-year-old Oakland resident was a professor of sociology at UC Berkeley for nearly half a century and had served as president of both the American Sociological Association and the International Sociological Association.
Burawoy pioneered the study of public sociology, a style of sociology that seeks to engage with non-academic audiences on issues such as public policy, political activism, and social movements.
On Monday, Oakland police said officers were dispatched just before 7:15 p.m. to the area of Grand Avenue and Park View Terrace near Lake Merritt on the report of a vehicle hitting a pedestrian. Officers found the victim with injuries from being struck by a vehicle. Medics arrived and took the victim to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The investigation determined the pedestrian was walking in a marked crosswalk as a vehicle approached Park View Terrace while heading west on Grand Avenue, hitting the pedestrian in the crosswalk, police said. The vehicle left the scene following the collision.
It was not known if alcohol or drugs played a factor in this collision. Police have not identified a suspect or suspect vehicle.
On February 19, Oakland police confirmed the arrest of 61-year-old Kermith Miller in connection with the fatal hit-and-run.
Burawoy authored 12 books and over 120 publications and is considered to have had a groundbreaking impact in the field of sociology, working within Marxist social theory. One of his best-known works is Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism, which has been translated into several languages, according to WorldCat.org.
After Burawoy retired in 2023, UC Berkeley established an endowment to honor the professor emeritus known as the Burawoy Chair's Endowment for Sociology.
"Michael Burawoy's impact on sociology is monumental. To many across the globe, when they think of Berkeley Sociology, they think of Burawoy," said UC Berkeley professor and former sociology chair Kim Voss in 2023. "His national and international presence, alongside his tireless dedication to Berkeley, makes him a pillar of our community."
Oakland police urged anyone with information about the collision to contact the department's Traffic Investigation Unit at (510) 777-8570. Anyone with videos or photos that could assist with the investigation was asked to send them to cidvideos@oaklandca.gov.
