Edward HUNDERT

1940 - 2020

EDWARD HUNDERT Beloved husband and father, died suddenly of cardiac arrest on June 18, 2020. Ed was born in New York City, May 28, 1940, the only child of Lillian and Gerschon Hundert who had emigrated to America from, respectively, England and Galicia (then Poland). They were part of the last great wave of Yiddish-speaking Jews immigrating from diaspora communities all over Eastern Europe. Ed is survived by his wife Carol Gibson, his daughter Martha Hundert (Jeremy Fraiberg), his step-daughter Shawn Bayes (Margaret Perry) and his grandchildren, Sam and Ben Fraiberg. Ed grew up a poor, much-loved only child in the Bronx, attended Stuyvesant High School, one of the elite public high schools in New York City, and got his BA from the City University of New York. He went to graduate school at NYU and the University of Rochester. There he encountered the intellectual historians Lewis White Beck and Hayden White, who introduced him to what would become his major scholarly interest, the intellectual history of modern Europe. It was an exciting time for the field, and Ed was a member of the group of academics centered at Cambridge University who were transforming it. His many graduate and undergraduate students often went on to have distinguished university careers. Ed began his career at the University of Calgary and moved to the University of British Columbia. Ed inspired generations of UBC undergraduates, including many who were not history majors, with his passion for the life of the mind. Just a short time before his death, he received letters from two former students who, decades after they had taken his unusually popular and memorable course in intellectual history, wrote to say how inspiring he had been. Ed was an unusually gifted lecturer---forceful, learned, and lucid---and he received a Master's Teacher's Award for his superb work as a teacher. He taught for many years in the Arts One humanities programme. Its emphasis on critical thinking and small tutorial groups was for him a model of what undergraduate education should be. He was an important part of its success, and, indeed, he rescued the programme when its future was in peril. While Ed exuded authority (and was aggressively punctual), he was nurturing to students, who always addressed him as "Ed." He was relied upon for his fine punctuation, incisive criticisms, and wonderful light touch as an editor. He read countless manuscripts for colleagues, former students, and policy briefs for his step-daughter. He appreciated clear reasoning and the work of others. Ed was a devoted and attentive husband, father and step-father. Ahead of his time, he was in charge of the household logistics and cooked dinner every night. Bonding over food came naturally to him. He and Martha spent countless mornings breakfasting at McDonalds (Ed drinking coffee and Martha devouring hotcakes and sausage), and searching out the best dim sum and Szechuan restaurants. He was also a dedicated chauffeur, driving Martha to school almost every morning for 13 years. He was Shawn's editor, organizer and proud cheerleader. Ed said many decades ago that for him and his academic friends, for whom opportunity meant leaving home, friends often became family. He had thousands of lunches and dinners with them, and he took immense pleasure in those occasions. Watching sports with the "guys" as also a delight. Growing up in the Bronx he naturally became---and remained--- a Yankees fan, and, later, an avid follower of football, both European and American style. Ed had a very fine memory, and his sports talk showed it. His memory also helped when he travelled. He loved to engage in conversation with the locals about the great and not so great moments in the history of their nation or people, and they were as delighted as he was to banter about their past. If there is a heaven, Ed (a confirmed atheist) is sitting in a cafe, drinking espresso or red wine, and talking with easy intimacy to a couple of strangers about their culture and its history. Either that, or he's eating dim sum with a dog on his lap. Ed will be deeply missed. A memorial will be held at a later date.