 michael vaillancourt aris (27 march 1946 â 27 march 1999) was a leading western author on bhutanese, tibetan and himalayan culture and wrote numerous books on buddhism in those regions. he was the husband of burmese opposition politician aung san suu kyi. ==life== aris was born in havana, cuba. his mother, josette aris (nÃ©e vaillancourt), was the canadian ambassador's daughter, and his english father, john aris, was an officer with the british council.gutchow, kim. 'michael aris: in memoriam'. ladakh studies 12 (autumn 1999), pp. 18â20. after being educated at worth school in sussex and upon completing his degree in modern history at st cuthbert's society, durham university in 1967, aris spent six years as the private tutor of the children of the royal family of the himalayan kingdom of bhutan. aris was an academic and lecturer in asian history at st john's college and later at st antony's college, oxford. in the last years before his death, he helped to establish a specialist tibetan and himalayan studies centre at oxford. michael aris's identical twin brother, anthony aris, similarly became a scholar of tibetan studies, and founded serindia publications to focus on bringing tibetan history and culture to modern audiences. ==aung san suu kyi== in 1972, aris married aung san suu kyi, whom he had met while in college. after spending a year in bhutan, they settled in north oxford, where they raised their two sons, alexander aris and kim aris. during this time, he did postgraduate studies at the school of oriental and african studies, university of london and obtained a phd in tibetan literature in 1978. in 1988, aung san suu kyi returned to burma at first to tend for her mother but later to lead the country's pro-democracy movement. st john's college provided aris with an extended leave of absence as a fellow on full stipend so that he could lobby for his wife's cause. in 1997, aris was diagnosed with prostate cancer which was later foun
1946_births 1999_deaths Alumni_of_Durham_University British_historians Cancer_deaths_in_England Deaths_from_prostate_cancer Fellows_of_St_Antony\'s_College,_Oxford Fellows_of_St_John\'s_College,_Oxford Identical_twins People_educated_at_Worth_School People_from_Oxford Tibetologists Twin_people_from_England