FRED WEINSTEIN

WEINSTEIN--Fred.

A history professor who taught for many years at Stony Brook University, died March 27 in New York City, after a short illness. He was 86. Fred began teaching at Stony Brook in 1969 and, aside from a year at The Institute for Advanced Study in 1970-71, taught there until his retirement in 1999. His scholarship focused on social theory and social movements, with an emphasis on applying psychoanalytic theory to the study of history. He wrote five books, including "The Wish to Be Free" (with his friend Gerald M. Platt) and "History and Theory After the Fall," and he helped found The Psychohistory Review in 1976. He also served as department chairman in the late 1980s. Fred was born to Samuel and Sonia Weinstein, nee Gins berg, both Russian immigrants, on October 19, 1931, in Brooklyn, NY. After graduating from Brooklyn College in 1954, he was drafted into the Army and served from 1954-56. Fred subsequently returned to Brooklyn College, where he earned his MA in 1957. He completed his PhD at UC Berkeley in 1962. Fred married Joan Gaustad, nee Berry, in 1962 and bravely took on an instant family of four children. In 1967, he and Joan had their son, Samuel Noah Weinstein. A lifelong New York Yankees fan, Fred also enjoyed gardening, cooking, and travelling abroad. He maintained his Brooklyn roots with an abiding love for horse racing, often visiting Belmont and Aqueduct racetracks with friends. Fred, who was preceded in death by his wife, Joan Berry Weinstein, is survived by his stepchildren, Blaine Gaustad (Nancy), Malcolm Gaustad (Grace), Robert Gaustad, and Alison Cooper (John), his son, Samuel Weinstein (April Hesik), his granddaughter, Sabine Hesik-Weinstein, his step-grandchildren, Jennifer Socey, Blair Tracey, Adrienne Crea, Caitlin Gaustad, and Justine Hasty, and his step-great-grandchildren, Jack Carpenter, Reid Pressley, Nora Crea and Caelan Tumas. His family will miss his wicked sense of humor, his extraordinary intelligence, and his love. He was buried next to his late wife at Oak Hill Cemetery in Stony Brook, NY.