Richard Arthur Preston

Richard Preston, Historian, au thor, Founding President of the Association of Canadian Studies in the United States and Royal Military College Historian, dies at age 96.
Richard Arthur Preston was born in Middlesborough, England, and graduated B.A. and M.A. from Leeds University. In 1933 he went to Yale University as a Commonwealth Fund Fellow and received a Doctorate in 1936.
In 1940 he left the University of Cardiff to enlist in the RAF, serving as a Security NCO in Oxford, and a Security Officer in Gibraltar.
After the war, he emigrated to Canada and, for three years was an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Toronto. In 1949 he was appointed Professor of History at the Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario.
While at RMC, Preston served as President of the Canadian Historical Society and was the first editor of its historical booklets series. He was Secretary of the Kingston Historical Society, and the first editor of its annual, Historical Kingston, which came to be recognized as one of the foremost publications in local history in Canada. In 1959 he received the City of Kingston's first Honourable Achievement Award and in 1994 the Kingston Historical Society awarded him a Certificate on the 50th anniversary of its revival.
In 1965 Preston was appointed W. K. Boyd Professor of History in the British Commonwealth Studies program at Duke University, Durham, NC. There he laid the foundation for its Centre of Canadian Studies, one of the first of its kind in the US.
In 1971 he organized, then was first President of, the Association of Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS). His services to Canadian Studies were recognized through Donner Foundation Bronze and Silver Medals and a Northern Telcom (now NORTEL) prize in 1983.
Preston was the author of more than a dozen books and many articles on the British Commonwealth, Canadian and Kingston history. Among these he co-authored with Alex Roland and Sydney Wise, Men in Arms, on the relation of war to the development of Western society. This book has appeared in five editions and still serves as a primary text for students of military history.
He published two volumes on the history of the Royal Military College of Canada. The College awarded him with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
Richard Preston delighted in the company of his family, colleagues and neighbours in Kingston, at the family cottage in Gananoque and in Durham. His family and friends remember fondly his sense of humour, his generosity and his zest for life.
Richard Preston is survived by his sons, David (and Kate) of Ottawa, and Peter (and Kathleen) of Waterford, Michigan, and by two grandchildren, Virginia and Nicholas.
Marjorie, his beloved wife of 67 years, passed away in October of this year. A daughter, Carol, of Toronto, also predeceased him.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundations of Canada or the USA.
A joint memorial service for Richard and Marjorie Preston will be held on December 13 at 1600 at The Forest at Duke, Pickett Road, Durham, NC.
Online messages can be sent to the family at prestonscayahoo.ca and livpresaol.com
Arrangements by the Cremation Society of the Carolinas, Raleigh.