Georgia Southern University professor of anthropology, Robert Shanafelt, Ph.D., passed away March 26 in

Shanafelt was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma roughly three years ago. It was thought that the cancer had been removed this past fall but the cancer returned aggressively within the past two months and doctors were unable to reverse it, Tim Prizer, former Georgia Southern student and friend of Shanafelt, said.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer that starts in the cells of the immune system causing a lymphocyte, usually a B cell, to become abnormal and B cells are used in producing antibodies to fight antigens, according to the National Cancer Institute’s website.

His last Facebook post was that he had pneumonia and was feeling very weak, Prizer said.

Shanafelt was a cultural anthropologist, an expert on Lesotho, a landlocked country in the middle of South Africa, an expert in folklore and brought the Introduction to Folklore class to Georgia Southern in the early 2000s.

At the front of the Carroll building there is a memorial stand in Shanafelt’s honor decreeing sympathies from faculty, students and staff.

Soft-spoken, gentle, warm and a good-natured person are how Prizer describes Shanafelt, claiming him to be a masterful teacher and brilliant scholar.