WASHINGTON--The United States Institute of Peace mourns the passing of the eminent Israeli scholar Ehud Sprinzak, who succumbed to throat cancer on Nov. 8 at the age of 62.

An expert on terrorism and right-wing extremism in Israeli politics and society, Sprinzak had been a senior fellow at the Institute in 1997-98 and a grantee in 1990.

Institute President Richard Solomon remembered Sprinzak as an exemplar of the Institute's bridge-building role. For example, he convened two major conferences on Israeli security in 2000 and 2001. They drew participants from the highest levelsÑand from both sidesÑof the Israeli political landscape and were broadcast on Israeli television.

"Ehud's views were sought out by policy-makers in Israel and in Washington," Solomon said. "He was trusted by virtually all elements of the Israeli political spectrum."

Above (left to right): Robert Oakley, Paul Arthur, Ehud Sprinzak, and Harriet Hentges speak at an Institute panel.

After his fellowship at the Institute of Peace, Sprinzak founded and was dean of the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel. Previously, he had been academic director of the Raoul Wallenberg Scholarship Program and professor of political science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where his research focused on terrorism and religious radicalism. Sprinzak also had been a visiting professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University and at the School of International Service at American University. He was the 1995 recipient of the Gedalia Gal Fellowship from the Association for the Commemoration of Israel's Intelligence Community and was selected as the 1992 Baruch Yekutieli fellow of the Jerusalem Institute for the Study of Israel. In 1992 Sprinzak was awarded the Landau Prize for best political science book for The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right. He also wrote Brother Against Brother: Violence and Extremism in Israeli Politics from Altalena to the Rabin Assassination, and was co-editor of Israeli Democracy Under Stress.

Sprinzak also served as an adviser to former Israeli Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin, whom he once warned that someone might try to assassinate him.

Sprinzak held a Ph.D. from Yale University. He is survived by his wife, Ricki, and four children.