On Oct. 18, Prof. Emeritus Eugene C. Black (HIST) died at the age of 85, according to an Oct. 22 BrandeisNOW article. Black joined Brandeis's history department in 1958 and remained a member of the faculty until 2006.

Black's expertise centered around modern history, primarily that of western and eastern Europe, according to Brandeis' faculty guide. He received several awards and honors for his work, and wrote extensively on European history, with 14 works published between 1963 and 2003, when he published his last scholarly article, titled "The Diplomacy of Minority Rights 1918-1930."

A Boston native, Black attended the College of William and Mary, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts before joining the U.S. Air Force. Black served in the Korean War as a pilot before returning to Massachusetts to enroll at Harvard University, where he received his Master of Arts and Ph.D., according to BrandeisNOW.

After graduating in 1958, Black came to Brandeis to become an instructor in the History department, where his presence inspired the creation of two internships in his name, according to BrandeisNOW. The E.C. Black Prizes offer students majoring or minoring in History a stipend of up to $1000 for historical research.

Colleague Prof. Gregory Freeze (HIST) described Black in an email to the Justice as having played a "key role in building the History Department," helping to "recruit first-rate faculty and build a department with a strong national reputation."
A dedicated teacher, Black was "very popular and engaged," according to Freeze, "with substantial enrollments in demanding classes."

John Petrowsky '73, a former student of Black's, emphasized Black's consideration, caring and dedication as a professor in an email to the Justice. Petrowsky recalled to the Justice a personal story, telling of how Black met with him personally each week to help him with writing. "Professor Black continued to help me on a weekly basis even during a sabbatical year, a year when he experienced a terrible personal tragedy.  He was the single faculty member who took me aside and said, 'You're smart.  You're not fully literate.  Let's see what we can do.'  And he helped me to do it."

Deborah Valenze Ph.D. '82, a professor of history at Barnard College and another of Black's former students said she feels that she owes Black for his influence on her journey to becoming an historian. "He demonstrated a bold, comparative approach to history," she said in an email to the Justice. "He was a strong mentor who always emphasized that teaching was a calling as important as scholarship."

According to BrandeisNOW, Black served as the chairman of both the graduate program in Comparative History and the History department several times. Dedicated to Brandeis and history, Black directed Ph.D. dissertations even after his retirement, working up until last year.

A funeral service was held in Brookline, Mass. on Oct. 23, according to BrandeisNOW.