Thank you for passing on this information.  What a sad loss, all too  early!
 
I first encountered Isaac in his "The Transformation of Virginia,  
1740-1790" and still stand in awe of his special combination of scholarship and  
writing style.  His work was foundational in my own thinking about that  period 
in our nation's life.
 
Despite never having met him, I share in the sense of loss those who knew  
and worked with him must feel.
 
Warren Napier, PhD
Affiliate Faculty, College for Professional Studies
Regis University
 
 
In a message dated 10/12/2010 7:35:22 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

The  following announcement from the College of William and Mary,  
http://www.wm.edu/news/pressreleases/2010/former-history-professor-rhys-isaac-dead-at
-72.php  
, announces an immeasurable loss for all those who study early   
Virginia history or explore the terrain where historical and   
ethnographic scholarship intersect.

--Jurretta  Heckscher

Former history professor Rhys Isaac dead at 72

by  Staff | October 7, 2010

Rhys Isaac, former Distinguished Visiting  Professor of Early American  
History at the College, has died of  cancer. He was 72.

Isaac, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for his book  “The  
Transformation of Virginia, 1740 -1790,” enjoyed an exemplary  career  
in teaching and research, most especially in his scholarship  on  
Colonial North America. He remains the only Australian historian  ever  
to win a Pulitzer.

Isaac served several stints at  William & Mary. He came in August 1998  
and spent a year as the  James Pinckney Harrison Professor of History.  
He returned from  August 2002 to December 2005, and again from August  
2006 to December  of that year as a Visiting Distinguished Professor of  
History and a  research associate with the Colonial Williamsburg   
Foundation.

“The Department of History was saddened to learn today  of the passing  
of Professor Rhys Isaac, our friend and colleague,  who enriched the  
College of William & Mary with his deep  knowledge of, and love for,  
the history of Colonial Virginia," said  Phil Daileader, chairman of  
the Lyon Gardiner Tyler Department of  History. “To those of us who had  
the privilege and honor of working  alongside Rhys, he is remembered as  
much for his generosity and for  his irrepressibly boisterous high  
spirits as for his scholarly  accomplishments.

"Even as Rhys grew increasingly ill during the last  few months, he  
continued to write notes of great grace, beauty, and  hope to his  
friends and colleagues at William & Mary.  The  College always remained  
in his thoughts; Rhys remained, and will  always remain, in ours.”

The bulk of this teaching career – 1971-1999  -- was spent at La Trobe  
University in Victoria, Australia, where he  was known for his astute  
advice to colleagues on their research  presentations, their drafts,  
articles and books.

“There will  be few of us who have not been touched in some way by the  
generous  advice of this scholar of such rare qualities,” said Jim  
Hammerton,  Head of the School of Historical and European Studies at La  
Trobe.  “I know that his loss will be deeply felt.”

The funeral will be  private. A memorial service is being  planned.



______________________________________
To  subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions  
at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html