Cynthia Hyla Whittaker

Cynthia Whittaker passed peacefully in her Manhattan home on October 11, 2023. She was cherished as mother, grandmother, and professor by family, friends, colleagues, and former students. She retired as Emeritus Professor at Baruch College of CUNY in 2011.

Cynthia leaves behind her daughter Erica Whittaker (with her husband Andrew Young), their daughters, Sophie Young and Heather Young, her son Andrew Tryon Whittaker (with his wife Elizabeth Whittaker), and their sons Harrison T. Whittaker and Grant T. Whittaker. Her marriage to Robert T. Whittaker, Jr. in 1964 ended in divorce in 1972. In 1975, she married Richard Clement Wade, from whom she was later divorced in 1995. Her marriage to Robert Lamont Belknap, in 1997, lasted until his death in 2014. Her brother Lee Hyla, a renowned composer and professor of music, died in 2014.

Dr. Whittaker grew up in Niagara Falls, NY, and attended Catholic schools where her intellectual ambition and love of learning were encouraged by the nuns. She received her B.A. from Marymount College in Tarrytown, NY, in 1962. By 1971, she had received master's degrees in Russian history and Russian literature and a doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

Before her retirement Dr. Whittaker was chair of the Department of History, and she also served the college as Interim Provost and in other administrative roles. Under her chairmanship, the History Department was awarded the American Historical Association's first Equity Award in 2010, a testament to her devotion to helping recruit and retain underrepresented racial and ethnic groups into the historic profession. She received the Baruch Presidential Excellence Award for scholarship twice, in 1985 and 2004, and for service in 2010.She taught Russian and European history at Baruch for four decades; she also taught at CUNY's Graduate Center starting in 1984.

Professor Whittaker's research concentrated on Russian political culture. Her book, "The Origins of Modern Russian Education: An Intellectual Biography of Count Sergei Uvarov," was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and came out in 1999 in Russian translation. She has also written "Alexander Pushkin: Epigrams and Satirical Verse." Her other books included "Russian Monarchy: Eighteenth-Century Rulers and Writers in Political Dialogue," and "Russia Engages the World, 1453-1825."

Her articles on Russian history covered a range of topics that include the oriental renaissance, the women's movement, abolitionism, and university education. She has lectured at American and Russian universities and also at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and in St. Petersburg.

Professor Whittaker was also co-curator of a major exhibition, "Russia Engages the World, 1453-1825," New York Public Library (October 2003-May 2004). It featured over 230 maps, drawings, rare books, and engravings drawn from the rich collections of the library.

Professor Whittaker has been a Fulbright Scholar as well as the recipient of numerous research awards, including grants from the NEH, the Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio Center), IREX, the Kennan Institute, and the Harriman Institute, and PSC/CUNY awards. In the academic year 1999-2000, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Slavic Research Center of Hokkaido University in Japan.

Professor Whittaker has appeared on Russian and American television. She was also a commentator on the History Channel's four-hour program, Russia, Land of the Tsars. In the past, she has served as the History Channel's commentator on movies with a Russian theme, such as "Reds," "War and Peace," and "Alexander Nevskii."

Professor Whittaker's final project, an intellectual biography of Catherine the Great as a reader, writer, political theorist, art collector, and patron of urban architecture was not completed.

Memorial service at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76th St. on Monday, October 16, 2023, 12:00 noon.