Dr. Stanley Wolpert, 1927-2019

H-Asia Dr. Stanley Wolpert, 1927-2019

Discussion published by Ryan Dunch on Thursday, May 2, 2019

Ed. note: The following obituary is published at the request of Dr. Nalini Rao, a student of Dr. Wolpert and co-author of the obituary. (Neither author is a member of H-Asia currently.)

Stanley A. Wolpert, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), died peacefully in California on February 19, 2019. He is deeply mourned by his wife Dorothy, a prominent lawyer (married, 1953), sons Daniel and Adam, daughters-in-law Debra and Katy, grandchildren Sam, Max, Sabine. A brilliant scholar, Stanley Wolpert taught South Asian History at UCLA for over forty years (1959-2002), thereafter guiding individual students almost till his demise. He joined UCLA as an instructor (1959), rose to full professorship (1967), and became Chairman of the Department of History (1968). He was Assistant Vice- Chancellor of Academic Affairs (1970’s), and served on the Advisory Board of the College of Letters and Science (1974-1978). He then initiated the Honors Collegium, and as its architect, improved academic programs at the College of Letters and Science. He also helped to shape programs during his tenure as the History Department and Academic Senate Committee on Teaching; as chair of the International Studies and Overseas Program Committee on South and Southeast Asia; and as President of UCLA’s chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honors society. He was awarded UCLA’s Distinguished Teaching Award (1975), and later became Professor Emeritus. Wolpert won the respect, gratitude, affection of numerous students whom he guided towards professional careers. A prolific writer, Wolpert’s academic publications remain relevant today. They range from general histories used across universities, such as A New History of India (1st ed.1977, 8th ed. 2008), and India (1991); to in-depth colonial and post-colonial studies acclaimed by scholars and general readers. His first major work,Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern India (1962), won the American History Association’s Watamull Prize for being the ‘best book on the history of India originally published in the United States’. Notable studies of colonial policies are Morley and India, 1906-1910 (1967), and Shameful Flight: The Last Years of British Empire in India (2006); while post-colonial studies, such as Roots of Confrontation in South Asia: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and the Superpowers (1982); India and Pakistan: Continued Conflict or Cooperation (2010) reflect concern over the half-century of persisting national animosities in South Asia. His political

Citation: Ryan Dunch. Dr. Stanley Wolpert, 1927-2019. H-Asia. 05-02-2019. https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/discussions/4083323/dr-stanley-wolpert-1927-2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Asia biographies combine historical dispassion with sympathy for controversial leaders, such as Jinnah of Pakistan (1984), Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan: His Life and Times (1993), Nehru: A Tryst With Destiny (1996), Gandhi's Passion: The Life and the Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi (2001). He and colleague Richard Sisson co-edited Congress and Indian Nationalism: The Pre-Independence Phase (1988). Wolpert was chief editor of Encyclopedia of India (4 vols., 2005); later wrote, “Biography and History: Inextricably Interwoven”, forThe Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol.40, No.3, (Winter, 2010), 399-412. He also wrote four fictional works,i.e., Aboard the Flying Swan (1954); Nine Hours to Rama (1962) which became a feature film (1963); The Expedition: A Novel (1967); An Error of Judgment (1970). Stanley Wolpert was born to Russian Jewish parents, Nathan and Frances Wolpert in Brooklyn, on Dec.27,1927. He graduated from New York State Maritime Academy, and became an engineer for the US Merchant Marines. His fascination for India began in 1948 when his ship landed in Mumbai port, and he witnessed the immersion of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes into the sea, amidst grieving crowds. He then returned to the U.S. to study Indology, received his B.A. from City College, N.Y. (1953), then M.A. (1955) and Ph.D. (1959) from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. While in City College, he met Dorothy Guberman, whom he married in 1953. Wolpert’s numerous awards began with his 1953 first prize from the Council of Jewish Women for his essay, “The Meaning of Academic Freedom”; and the Pell medal from City College (1953). He later received research fellowships from the Ford Foundation (1953-1955, 57-58); American Council of Learned Societies (1961); Research Council for South Asia (1962-1963); andthe South Asian Studies Association award (2010). Wolpert was a member of the American History Association, the Association for Asian Studies, American Oriental Society, and Phi Beta Kappa. In honor of Stanley Wolpert by his students, Sita Anantha Raman and Nalini Rao