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| Harold M. Hyman and A More Perfect Union (Rice) |
Harold M. Hyman died on August 6, 2023, at age 99. He lived a long and rich life, filled with love for the family he raised, for the university and college students he taught, and for the country he studied and served.
Harold was born on July 24, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Beatrice and Abraham Hyman. He grew up in the Depression, the youngest of four children. He left school at 15 and, after a series of odd jobs, left home at 17 to join the Marine Corps. (He was not exactly precise about his age when he enlisted). He was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and he served in the Pacific theatre during the war. He was always proud of his time in the Marines, although he did not talk much about what he saw until late in his life. During his service, he took correspondence courses and received his high school diploma by mail delivered to somewhere in the Pacific.
During a shore leave in Los Angeles, California, Harold and a fellow Marine were invited to a USO dance. Harold did not want to go; his friend persuaded him. At the dance, both men met the women they married. Harold met Ferne Handelsman, a warm and studious young woman. On the way home, Harold left a camera in the taxi, and called Ferne for assistance in retrieving it. They continued to meet in the home of Lillian Handelsman and her husband, William, who spent the war cooking meals for Jewish servicemen who fetched up in their city. Ferne and Harold married when the war ended. Lillian and William Handelsman were delighted; they loved Harold dearly, and he them. Harold and Ferne’s marriage lasted 65 years, until Ferne’s death in 2011.
The GI Bill let Harold get a bachelor’s degree at the University of California at Los Angeles. The combination of his war experience and his courses ignited a passion to study; he wanted to know why. He went to Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. in history. His dissertation won the highest prize in the field and was published, the first of twelve books and many articles he would publish during his long academic career. His area of focus was the Civil War and Reconstruction; his greatest heroes were Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. He believed that they saved this nation, and he was grateful.
The newly minted Professor Harold Hyman began his teaching career at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. He remembered the time he and Ferne spent there with great fondness, in part because their first child was born there. His love of teaching took him and his growing family back to UCLA, then to the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, then to Rice University, with numerous visiting stints around the country, including at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Arizona State.
Harold’s longest academic home was at Rice University. He spent 35 years in the history department, which he chaired and where he held the William P. Hobby Professor of History Chair. Harold taught undergraduates and graduate students and published throughout his years at Rice. As a teacher, he was demanding and sometimes feared, but he did not expect more of his students than he did of himself.
Harold’s academic immersion in the Civil War and Reconstruction led to his and Ferne’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1965, he and other American Historians joined the march from Selma to Montgomery, led by Dr. Martin Luther King. He never forgot it.
During their time at Rice, Ferne served as the Chief Reference Librarian at the Fondren Library. Ferne and Harold went to campus together every day; met for lunch in the Cohen House every day; and at the end of the day, hand in hand, went back home.
As much as Harold loved his work and his country, he loved his family more. He and Ferne never ran out of conversation. They were fiercely proud of their three children and their success in their chosen careers of law, teaching, and medicine. Harold adored and was equally proud of his nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren. His love for them all sustained him when Ferne died eleven years ago.
Harold and Ferne spent the last decade of their lives together at the Brookwood Community, where their oldest granddaughter lives and where they served as the resident grandma and grandpa. Harold presided over reading groups that he tailored to each audience, and he greeted every citizen by name.
Harold spent his last year in Austin, Texas, close to one of his daughters and her husband, two of his grandsons and, most important, two of his great grandchildren. Two weeks before he died, the extended family gathered to celebrate his 99th birthday and watch him happily lose chess games to his 7 year old great grandson. We are all grateful that we had that time together.
Harold is survived by his children, Judge Lee Rosenthal and her husband, Gary; Ann Root and her husband, Dr. Jim Root; and Dr. Bill Hyman and his wife, Sherry. He also leaves his grandchildren, Rebecca, Hannah, Rachel, and Jessica Rosenthal, Joshua and Brittany Root, Eric Root, Andrea and Jose Peña, Sarah Hyman, Daniel Hyman, Dr. Jay Dew and Sara Leader and Carrie and Sean Brannon; his great grandchildren, Claire and Harrison Root, Madelyn and Violet Peña, and Will and Kate Brannon; his nieces, Frankie Gottlieb and her husband, Ed, their children Adam and Lucie, and Wendy Wintrob and her partner, Dave Wolman. Harold is survived as well by his books and his students.
The family extends its gratitude to the nurses at the Brookwood Community and the staff at the Belmont Village, who cared for him with kindness and dedication.
A memorial service at the Brookwood Community is planned for the future. Donations in Harold’s memory may be made to the Brookwood Community, 1752 Farm to Market Road, Brookshire, Texas, 77423.
