Blog Posts
Currently Filtering by Tags: Lacey Baldwin SmithOctober
29
2013
Obituary: Professor Lacey Baldwin Smith
Posted by jaskelly under Obituaries | Tags: Lacey Baldwin Smith |
BlockView
PROFESSOR LACEY BALDWIN SMITH - GREENSBORO - Professor Lacey Baldwin Smith died peacefully in his home on Sept. 8, 2013, at almost 91 years old. Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., a Guggenheim fellow, twice a Fulbright recipient, and twice recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities award, he was considered one of the "big name" historians. Yet, his writing was as entertaining as it was erudite. From scholarly tomes to "English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable," Lacey was a consummate author, and after 60 years of writing, the majority of his books remain in print. The biography, "Henry VIII: The Mask of Royalty," is one of the most referenced books concerning that famous and willful king. While a historian of the distant past, in his own life, Lacey was not a man to look backwards or rest on the laurels of his youth, and so, at the age of 89, the professor penned "Anne Boleyn: The Queen of Controversy" (published 2013). Then, 70 years after having attempted a novel during W.W.II in a military tent in India, he again turned his hand to what he considered the hardest form. He completed his first work of historical fiction and sent it to the publishers days before his health began failing. Although Lacey's writings often focused on the cut-throat and treacherous world of Tudor and Stuart monarchs, Lacey himself was a gentle and gracious man. While he loved to talk history, he was equally happy to read mystery stories, play poker, or watch his three-year-old grandson run circles around him. Having retired to Greensboro, the small village where he spent every summer of his life, he was a champion of the Greensboro Library, the Greensboro Historical Society, and the Greensboro Land Trust. In the wider community, he served on the board of the American Historical Association, the American Historical Review, the Conference on British Studies, and as editor of the Journal of Modern History. As devoted a teacher as he was a writer, he rarely forgot a student's name. One of his last actions before his death was to write to a former undergraduate, whom he hadn't seen in decades, but who had contacted him regarding his most recent book. The devotion he showed his students was only rivaled by that he showed his wife and children. He was preceded in death by his wife of 43 years, Jean Reeder Smith; and is survived by his son, MacAllister Smith; daughters, Dennison Smith, and Katherine Chandler Smith-Brannon; grandsons, Chandler Smith and Steven Brannon; and granddaughter, Oceana Masterman-Smith. A funeral and memorial will be held in Greensboro next July when Lacey's many friends and relatives return to the lake for the summer. The family requests that, in lieu of cards or flowers, donations be made in Lacey's name to the Greensboro Land Trust: www.greensborolandtrust.org.
Published in The Burlington Free Press on September 15, 2013
PROFESSOR LACEY BALDWIN SMITH - GREENSBORO - Professor Lacey Baldwin Smith died peacefully in his home on Sept. 8, 2013, at almost 91 years old. Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., a Guggenheim fellow, twice a Fulbright recipient, and twice recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities award, he was considered one of the "big name" historians. Yet, his writing was as entertaining as it was erudite. From scholarly tomes to "English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable," Lacey was a consummate author, and after 60 years of writing, the majority of his books remain in print. The biography, "Henry VIII: The Mask of Royalty," is one of the most referenced books concerning that famous and willful king. While a historian of the distant past, in his own life, Lacey was not a man to look backwards or rest on the laurels of his youth, and so, at the age of 89, the professor penned "Anne Boleyn: The Queen of Controversy" (published 2013). Then, 70 years after having attempted a novel during W.W.II in a military tent in India, he again turned his hand to what he considered the hardest form. He completed his first work of historical fiction and sent it to the publishers days before his health began failing. Although Lacey's writings often focused on the cut-throat and treacherous world of Tudor and Stuart monarchs, Lacey himself was a gentle and gracious man. While he loved to talk history, he was equally happy to read mystery stories, play poker, or watch his three-year-old grandson run circles around him. Having retired to Greensboro, the small village where he spent every summer of his life, he was a champion of the Greensboro Library, the Greensboro Historical Society, and the Greensboro Land Trust. In the wider community, he served on the board of the American Historical Association, the American Historical Review, the Conference on British Studies, and as editor of the Journal of Modern History. As devoted a teacher as he was a writer, he rarely forgot a student's name. One of his last actions before his death was to write to a former undergraduate, whom he hadn't seen in decades, but who had contacted him regarding his most recent book. The devotion he showed his students was only rivaled by that he showed his wife and children. He was preceded in death by his wife of 43 years, Jean Reeder Smith; and is survived by his son, MacAllister Smith; daughters, Dennison Smith, and Katherine Chandler Smith-Brannon; grandsons, Chandler Smith and Steven Brannon; and granddaughter, Oceana Masterman-Smith. A funeral and memorial will be held in Greensboro next July when Lacey's many friends and relatives return to the lake for the summer. The family requests that, in lieu of cards or flowers, donations be made in Lacey's name to the Greensboro Land Trust: www.greensborolandtrust.org. Published in The Burlington Free Press on September 15, 2013
Categories
2016
2016 annual meeting
2021
adam matthew
AFIHR
AHA
Announcement
annual conference
annual meeting
Atlanta
Award
BISI
BISI,
Blog
blog post
Brexit
British and Irish Studies Intelligencer
Call for Editors
CFP
conference
conference, NACBS 2014
conference, NACBS 2019
conference, NACBS 2020
conference, NACBS 2021
Conferences
Coronavirus
COVID19
database
deadline extension
Digital Humanities
Editorials
Emergency Funding Grants
emergency grant
endorsement
executive committee endorsement
executive director
extended deadline
Folger Fellowship
Graduate and Early Career Caucus
Grants and Awards
h-albion
IHR
international students
Interview
JBS
Jobs
MA essay prize
MACBS
Meeting
meeting minutes
member news
mentorship program
MWCBS
my NACBS
MyNACBS
NACBS
NACBS Membership Offers
NECBS
new book
new officers
Obituaries
obituary
op-ed
pedagogy
photographs
Pre-dissertation award
pre-dissertation grant
Priya Satia
Prize
prizes
publication
reception
Regionals
report
RHS
Rights Task Force
RTF
SCBS
Seminar
statement
Teaching
Test
test category
Trump
visas
walter d love prize
Zoom Session
“White House Conference on American History”
