Keith Le Bahn Nelson

1932 - 2022

May 24, 1932 - October 10, 2022 Keith Le Bahn Nelson, a retired professor of History who was a founding faculty of University of California, Irvine, and an Irvine resident since 1975, died peacefully on October 10, 2022.
Born in Omaha, NE, Keith was the only child of Elizabeth J. Le Bahn and Edwin A. Nelson. He grew up in El Paso, TX, and Santa Monica, CA, where he graduated SaMoHi with honors. He received his BA and MA from Stanford University, where he was a Danforth Fellow, joined AKL fraternity, earned Phi Betta Kappa and served in ROTC. After Stanford, Keith studied for a year at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, becoming fascinated with the confrontations of the Cold War. He was a lieutenant in the US army 1955-1956 stationed in Fort Lee, VA. After his military service, Keith received his PhD from University of California, Berkeley.
Teaching positions followed at the University of California, Riverside, and University of Texas at Austin. In 1965 Keith was hired as an assistant history professor at the new campus of the University of California, Irvine. He embarked on a rewarding and almost 50 year career of teaching and writing. He served UCI in many capacities including numerous directorships and as Associate Dean of Humanities for Undergraduate Studies. In 1991 Keith was a Fulbright Professor of History at Lund University in Sweden, and he served 1999-2002 as administrator of the University of California's Education Abroad Programs based in Sweden and Denmark.
In 2011, while serving as Director of Religious Studies, he was named UCI Emeritus Professor of the Year. In 2012 he was honored as an Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professor. With the award funds he established UCI's annual Nelson Lecture series on the History of American Foreign Relations.
Keith authored, co-authored, edited and co-edited numerous books and articles including The Impact of War on American Life; Victors Divided; Why War
(with Spencer Olin); The Making of Détente; and Re-Viewing the Cold War (with Patrick Morgan). He served the national Society for the History of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) on committees and on its Board of Directors.
Keith loved to travel and pursue family genealogy. He served the community in many ways: as vestryman at St Michael's Episcopal Church in Corona Del Mar, as member and president of the Newport-Irvine Rotary Club, as coach of his daughter's soccer team and as co-author with Spencer Olin of the Walkable Historical Timeline at The Great Park in Irvine (for which they received a commendation from that city).
Keith is survived by his former wife, their daughter, Katherine, husband Eric and children AJ and Jasper. He is also survived by his wife of 47 years, Paddy, her grandson Parker, son Scott and daughter Lori. A memorial service will be held at St Michael's Episcopal Church.The family suggests donations in his name are made to Rotary International.