Stan Pierson Obituary

Stan Pierson

1925 - 2013

Stanley Arthur Pierson of Eugene, Oregon passed away at his home on January 12, 2013 at the age of 88. Stan was born on New Year's Day, 1925 in the Torrance home of his parents, Daniel and Pearl Pierson. He was a 1943 graduate of Torrance High School where he lettered in three sports and was editor of the school newspaper. He enrolled at the University of Oregon in 1943; however, was called into military service where he became a machine gunner as part of the 66th "Black Panther" Division in Europe.

Stan returned home and graduated from the University of Oregon in 1950. During summers he hitchhiked across the country multiple times and was very pleased that he made it all the way on seven dollars one year. In 1953, he married his wife of 58 years, Joan. Stan became a member of the History Department at U of O, dedicating himself to serious scholarship and teaching.

Stan is survived by two brothers, David Pierson of Rolling Hills Estates and Paul Pierson of Pasadena. He is also survived by sons, Mike (Caroline) of Seattle, Kit (Rachel) of Arlington, Virginia, and Paul (Tracey) of Berkeley; seven grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.Please sign the guest book at www.dailybreeze.com/obits.

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Published by Daily Breeze on Jan. 25, 2013.

Memories and Condolences
for Stan Pierson

4 Entries

Bruce Kreitzberg

March 4, 2025

Stan Pierson was one of my two most memorable professors at UO. After meeting him, I tried to take more of his classes and I was never disappointed. He was a serious thinker and a serious teacher and he did not suffer intellectual laziness or sloppy thinking. When I took his classes in the early 1990s, he still held to what I assume was an old fashioned custom of addressing students as "Mr." I appreciated the rigor and seriousness implied by this formality. He was less inclined to coddle than some others and once or twice met a student's comment with, "no, I don't see that value in that at all!" He was an eloquent lecturer, prepared, articulate and equally capable with the biggest ideas or themes as he was with details. I admired him enormously and worked all the harder to try to match his expectations and his modeling. I especially liked his class on European cultural history and would visit his office hours to try to tease out more understanding of difficult philosophical concepts like being vs becoming and the like. Once, when I had to take five final exams in two days, I was overwhelmed and unable to meet the challenge. Studying sufficiently for Prof Pierson's exam was one of the places I fell short and at the time of the exam's start, I could not bring myself to attend and just try, so loathe was I to write a subpar essay for this teacher. I walked around, bought a street hot dog and then sense and practicality prevailed and I arrived late to start writing. I saved five minutes at the end of the period to write an apologetic note to my professor apologizing for being less prepared. He wrote back that I was "too hard on myself," which I thought was generous and kind. 22 or 23 years later, working in landscaping for my small, Eugene based business, I had the luck and pleasure of meeting Stan one more time. He did not remember me, but I remembered myself to him and he modestly joked that the experience of being his student had had no lasting deleterious effects on me? I only got to speak to him in that first meeting or maybe one more time about a practical garden matter because he passed away just months later and perhaps, he was not well enough to step out of the house and talk to me. Still, it was nice to have an epilogue with this man who did challenge me as a historian and as a thinker. I think of him as a classic, academic gentleman who lived a solid, modest life and contributed to the education and enrichment of thousands of people like myself.

Amy Joseph Pedersen

January 30, 2013

Thank you so much for letting me know. I read the beautiful obituary and found myself tearing up. He was simply a wonderful human being and I am sure you are very proud that he was your father. I knew some of those personal bits (like the lookout job), and his war service, but of course much of it was new to me. One of the quotes you selected to use (At the time, he described the goal of the successful teacher to be "prompting students to ask questions worth asking. I want to sensitize students to important problems. Many students drift through college without ever experiencing a change in attitude. I want to produce a self-generating curiosity, and develop in them a life-time sensitivity to the world around them.") was absolutely perfect. By his own definition, he was the most successful teacher I ever had. I am sorry for your loss, especially coming so soon after your mother's death. I look forward to making a gift to the Pierson Lecture Fund.

January 24, 2013

Pierson children: your parents and I were members at Central Presbyterian for many years. I served with your Mom on a Pastor Nominating Committee in the mid 80's and got to know and appreciate both of your parents through that process. My father, a retired Presbyterian minister who met your parents on visits to Eugene, died last September. In reading your father's obituary I discovered that he and my dad were both in the 66th Infantry Division in France in WWII. My dad was a mortar sergeant. It is too bad that these two veterans never got a chance to talk about their common bond, but they may well be attending a Black Panther reunion right now. Peace to you in your loss.

Tom Andersen

Lloyd Paseman

January 20, 2013

I had terrible history teachers in high school and took a very dim view of that subject with me into college at the University of Oregon. My attitude changed, however, during my junior year after I took Stan's "Europe Since 1789" history class. He was a superb teacher and that class instilled in me a fascination with history that continues to this day, more than 50 years later. Stan's class made me realize that most everything that happens is in someway related to things that happened in the past, and that ignoring history's mistakes creates the prospect of repeating them in the future. We see and hear examples of that almost daily. Stan taught me that history is a dynamic, living thing that helps shape our lives and destinies and he gave me a thirst for reading about it that I know I'll never quench--and be grateful that I can't. I never knew about his World War II experiences but I can understand how they informed his view of the world and led him into teaching history, which he did with a tremendous passion. Attending and participating in his classes changed my life in a positive way, helping me become not only a better person but also a better citizen. I never had another teacher quite like him and I'll always remember what being a student of his did for me. He will be missed.

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