John Curtis Perry

John Curtis Perry, an extraordinary teacher, scholar, and writer, was born in 1930. He attended Friends Schools in Washington D.C. and New York, calling that time a formative experience which expanded his world view. He felt a strong sense of moral grounding from this part of his education. Perry graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in Chinese Studies and a Master's degree in History and Regional Studies. He received his Ph.D. in History at Harvard University. Perry considered history one of the humanities, as an art form more than a social science. Although extremely prone to seasickness, his focus became maritime history.
Over a 52-year career, he taught at colleges and universities, including Connecticut College, Carleton College, Waseda University in Tokyo, the International University of Japan, and for thirty-five years at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, where he was Henry Willard Denison Professor of History. He retired from teaching in 2015 when he decided he was old enough to try other things, including creating a podcast called Revolution at Sea.
He wrote five books, and recently finished his sixth, which focuses on food and empires throughout history. (He always said that the cooking of his wife, artist Sarah Hollis Perry, made his house the best restaurant on the North Shore.)
As a scholar, he ranged widely in his teaching and writing. He defined himself as a teacher and spent a lot of time preparing lectures, well known by all those who heard them. At Fletcher he gave an annual open lecture on writing, insisting on the value of one word: pith. His other favorite word was love, the most important of virtues, he felt, and something his family knew to be true.
At Fletcher, Perry organized and ran many seminars in the North Pacific region and beyond. He was active as an academic fundraiser for the programs he established, which were known for reaching out to nations newly international, like China, Russia, and even North Korea.
Throughout his career, he lectured in many countries, and was a frequent contributor to TV, radio, newspapers, and journals in the United States, Japan, Korea, China, and Russia. He served as a consultant to foreign governments, including the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Japan Export Trade Organization, and the Singapore Ministry of Transport.
John Curtis Perry received the Order of the Sacred Treasure, a Japanese Imperial decoration, for his contributions to American-Japanese relations. In 2001, his students and friends honored him by establishing the John Curtis Perry Fellowship at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
He is survived by Sarah Hollis Perry to whom he was married for 67 years, and their five children: Elizabeth Perry, Margaret Allard, Rachel Perry, Lyman Perry, and Maria Burtis as well as beloved grandchildren and great-grandchildren, children-in-law, grandchildren-in-law, and a large and loving extended family.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 19th at 11am at the Annisquam Village Church, 820 Washington Street, Gloucester. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the John Curtis Perry Fellowship Fund at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (designating the gift for the John Curtis Perry Fellowship Fund), or to the Annisquam Village Library, Maria Marolda, 33 Adams Hill Road, Annisquam, MA 01930.