Frank Robinson Safford

1935 - 2022

Franklin R. Safford, 87, known to family, friends and colleagues as Pancho, served as Chair of the Northwestern History Department from 1986-89 and again from 1992-94. He had also been Associate Dean for the Social Sciences from 1994-98 and 2001-2002 and Director of International Studies from 2002-06.

He died June 16, 2022 in Evanston, Illinois.

"While Pancho loved research and scholarship, and was highly respected in his field" his wife Joan said, "his joy was in empowering and mentoring his students and young colleagues. They became emboldened by his enthusiasm, supportive criticism and humor." He also received accolades by serving the History Department and University.

Professor Safford was born in El Paso, Texas, June 4, 1935 and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College in 1957 and received his MA (1958) and PhD (1963) from Columbia University.

After two years of doctoral research in Colombia, in 1962, Professor Safford joined the faculty of Dartmouth College as an Instructor and Assistant Professor of Latin American and American history. In 1966, he accepted an appointment at Northwestern University as an Assistant Professor of History, became an Associate Professor in 1972 and Professor in 1976.

He was named the inaugural Gerald and Majorie Fitzgerald Professor of Economic History in 1995. At his retirement in 2010, he became Professor Emeritus. After his retirement, in 2011, he taught as Professor in the School of Management at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.

Professor Safford also taught as Visiting Associate Professor in 1972-73, at the University of Texas at Austin where he served as editor of the Hispanic American Historical Review. In 1995, the Republic of Colombia named him to the Orden de San Carlos for his seminal works in Colombian economic history and in 2011, the National University of Colombia in Bogotá awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering for his pioneering study of technical education in Colombia.

His many books and articles in English and Spanish included The Ideal of the Practical: Colombia's Struggle to Form a Technical Elite, Austin (University of Texas Press, 1976), published in Spanish (El Ancora Editores, Universidad Nacional, 1989), and Colombia: Fragmented Land, Divided Society (with Marco Palacios), Oxford University Press, 2002; published in Spanish (Editorial Norma, 2002).

Frank married his beloved wife, Joan Bainbridge, in 1959. They raised their two sons, Mark and Joshua, primarily in Evanston, where they found a caring, engaged group of friends and neighbors. Though he was by definition an academic he avidly supported his performing artist children and took the wheel raising them when his wife's legal career blossomed. Pancho was a partner to his wife and children as well as to his students and colleagues and thrived on watching them shine.

Professor Safford and his wife, Joan, enjoyed many adventures all over the world with extensive travel in Latin America and residence Bogotá, where Pancho was doing research and teaching. He was an active man, preferring to ride his bicycle everywhere and playing tennis into his early 80's with a company of friends referred to, affectionately, as the geriatric tennis league.

Survivors in addition to his wife include his two sons, Mark and Joshua, their partners Krista Pearson and Rebecca O'Keefe, granddaughter, Meera Pearson Safford, his brother Richard Gillett and his wife Anne as well as numerous nieces nephews and cousins who dearly loved Pancho.

Memorial service at 11:00 am on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at Alice Millar Chapel, Northwestern University, 1870 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL. A celebration of Pancho's life will follow at Harris Hall 108, directly across Sheridan Road.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Northwestern Libraries or to the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Checks may be sent to Northwestern University, Gift and Record Services, 1201 Davis Street, Evanston, IL 60208. Please note that the gift is to the Northwestern Libraries or Bienen School of Music and in honor of Professor Safford. Online gifts may be made at https://giving.northwestern.edu/library and https://giving.northwestern.edu/music.