Robert S. Friedman

Robert S. Friedman, Penn State professor emeritus of political science, died peacefully at his home on February 25, 2020, just short of his 93rd birthday surrounded by his family, his wife Learita, and with his beloved dog Lulu on his chest.

A lifetime APSA member, he was one of the cohort of veterans who lead the discipline post-WWII. He was born in Baltimore in 1927 and received his BA in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 1948, where he studied under Carl B. Swisher and V.O. Key. He obtained his PhD in political science from the University of Illinois in 1953, and taught at LSU from 1955–1961, as visiting associate professor at Vanderbilt and Washington University, and as professor at the University of Michigan from 1961–1968. He came to Penn State as department chair in 1968 and served 10 years in that capacity. He retired in 1994.

Bob had a beautiful, well-rounded career with notable achievements in research, academic administration, and public service. His research focused on public administration and bureaucracy, especially the Food and Drug Administration, state politics, and state highway financing, including a chapter in Jacob and Vines Politics in the American States on state highway politics, and (with his late wife Renee) two NSF-funded studies, “The Role of University Organized Research Units in Academic Science” and “Indicators of Applied Research Activity—Sponsorship, Organization and Program Change at One Hundred Universities.” He authored articles in Public Administration Review,Western Political Quarterly, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, the Midwest Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, and the National Civic Review, as well as numerous book reviews.

A devoted and passionate teacher, his popular and excellent classes in state politics, bureaucracy, public administration, and government and the economy were well received. His reputation as a teacher was “tough but fair.” He was very active in graduate education, mentoring many graduate students and serving on virtually all PhD committees in American politics.

Bob had a distinguished career in academic service and administration. He came to Penn State to head a fractured and contentious political science department, and his skilled tenure as chair transformed it into a wonderful place to teach and research. He was proud of his recruitment decisions, and set the stage for the subsequent increase in the department’s standing in the profession. He served on multiple executive committees and institute advisory boards at both the University of Michigan and Penn State, including as director of Penn State’s Science Policy Center. He served as vice chair of Penn State’s Faculty Senate, and chaired the committee that recommended reforms to the Faculty Senate. These changes were adopted and became known as “The Friedman Report.” In 1982, he chaired Penn State University’s presidential search committee.

Bob Friedman also distinguished himself through his public service activities as a model citizen. He was a committed civil libertarian, serving on ACLU boards in Michigan and Pennsylvania. He signed an open letter with LSU colleagues calling for school integration that lead to public denunciation in the Louisiana State Legislature. He was a member of Common Cause Pennsylvania’s governing board. He played a major role in a fundraising campaign for the local library.

An enthusiastic baseball fan, he suffered the downs of his beloved Baltimore Orioles and reveled in their recently all too infrequent successes. He followed current politics closely right up to the end. He loved to play (and won at) poker, which he referred to as his “probability seminars.” At his eulogy, his son David summed his father up beautifully: “Bob Friedman lived a long and vibrant life—he was a serious man who did not take himself too seriously.”

Ronald Mark Sirkin

Ronald Mark Sirkin, 76, died on July 18, 2019, following a long illness. Born in Baltimore, MD, Mark, as he was known by friends and colleagues, grew up a self-described “military brat,” the child of Louis and Florence (Ikin) Sirkin. He earned his BA at the University of Maryland (1965), and studied quantitative methods and Middle East politics at Pennsylvania State University, where he earned his MA (1967) and PhD (1971). Mark would utilize both his quantitative analytical skills and his fascination with Middle East politics throughout his long academic career at Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio. He served as assistant dean in the College of Liberal Arts, associate dean in the School of Graduate Studies, and as director of the Office of Research Services. After he returned to his home department in political science, he authored the widely-adopted Statistics for the Social Sciences, now in its third edition. His love of learning and teaching led him to offer students a wide array of courses, with numerous opportunities to apply quantitative analysis to political questions. Whether it was an introductory class on political life, his Israeli-Palestinian Politics course, or quantitative methods for political science majors, Mark’s love of teaching and engaging students and colleagues in a political conversation never ceased. He retired as associate professor in 2008 after nearly 40 years of service.

Mark served his political science colleagues tirelessly, participating in the creation of an MA program in international and comparative politics which drew heavily on Middle East courses. He particularly enjoyed teaching military veterans. He never declined an opportunity to educate the public on the intricacies of Middle East politics, whether looking at the complexities of an Israeli election or the aftermath of US involvement in the wider region. He generously shared his time on countless panel discussions offered by the department and the Dayton Council on World Affairs. Widely known and appreciated for his sense of humor, Mark’s contribution to department meetings usually opened with a pun, a procedure that came to be part of the regular agenda. Mark’s love of travel, his bad driving, his superb guacamole and his Bond-like fondness for dry martinis made him an admired colleague and always in demand as a conversational partner at meetings and dinners.

Mark’s family life in Yellow Springs, OH (which he fondly called the People’s Republic of YS), was a happy one where he and his beloved wife Debbie raised their two daughters. Their love of Celtic music featured by the local radio station (WYSO) is where his family recommends directing a memorial gift, should one be offered. He leaves a legacy of learning, laughter, service, and kindness. We remember him fondly.

Paul Wallace

Paul Wallace, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Missouri, passed away unexpectedly in Columbia on February 22, 2020. A scholar of the politics of India and South Asia, Paul served on the faculty at the University of Missouri for over 40 years. Throughout his life, Paul sought to raise awareness of Asia and the Indian subcontinent in particular and promoted peaceful resolution of political and social conflict. He was a passionate supporter of his students and of comparative politics and international relations scholars.

Paul was born in Los Angeles on July 21, 1931. Following graduation from the University of California, Berkeley in 1953, he served in the US Army during the Korean War. In 1957, Paul returned to Berkeley to pursue graduate study, receiving a PhD in political science in 1966. He joined the faculty at the University of Missouri in 1964. He held a variety of posts, serving as department chair and director of international studies. Visiting India as a Fulbright fellow, Paul established relationships through Punjab University, Chandigarh. Paul retired in 2005, but he continued to remain active in the department, the university, and the discipline. Before and after retirement, he traveled to India, Pakistan, and elsewhere in Asia annually for lectures and research.

He received grant funding to support his work through a Senior Fulbright Research Award (1972), the American Institute of Indian Studies (1980–1981), the Ford Foundation (1988–1989), and five awards from the Smithsonian Institution to conduct national election surveys in India. Paul served as a frequent consultant on South Asia for the government, including the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the US Attorney General’s Office, the US Department of Defense, and numerous other agencies. He served as an expert witness on Sikh violence for the Air India trial in Vancouver, Canada, in September 2003.

He published numerous articles and chapters on comparative politics and international relations. His edited books include Region and Nation in India, Political Dynamics and Crisis in Punjab with Surendra Chopra, and a series of six volumes covering each of India’s elections since 1998, the first four edited with Ramashray Roy. The most recent edition, India’s 2019 Elections: The Hindutva Wave and Indian Nationalism, was published in 2020. Paul traveled to India in January to launch the book and to recognize the scholarship of those who contributed chapters.

Paul was affiliated with the University of Missouri’s programs in South Asian Studies and Peace Studies as well as the Honors College. He received a Mizzou Alumni Distinguished Faculty Award in 1992. Active during retirement, he taught an annual honors course, “Terrorism and Conflict Resolution,” each spring semester. Paul continued teaching students until the end.

Paul will be remembered for his positive attitude, joyful laugh, and endless commitment to his students. Paul was generous and kind. In 1976, he met professor Robin Remington, who also joined the Political Science Department at MU. He and Robin married, and together they welcome international students and visitors from across the globe to their home, dubbed “Peace Haven,” expanding their base by purchasing another house across the street in order to hold more guests. Paul was a collector and a supporter of the arts, locally and internationally. He was also an avid tennis player, continuing to play three times a week into his eighties. Paul was active in local politics and an advocate for peace and social justice.

Paul Wallace was a friend and mentor to generations of Mizzou graduate and undergraduate students and to colleagues across the discipline. He tirelessly promoted greater public knowledge of South Asia, and encouraged scholarship in India and throughout Asia. A political science graduate research scholarship at the University of Missouri is named in his honor. He is survived by his son Brian, his daughter Lisa, and his wife Robin Remington. He will be deeply missed.

M. Crawford Young

Professor emeritus M. Crawford Young, of the political science department at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, died on January 21, 2020, in Madison, WI. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 7, 1931. He lived there until high school, when his family moved to Washington, DC, where his father was appointed to the Federal Reserve during the Eisenhower administration. His mother, Louise Young, an English professor at American University, had a strong influence on his interest in the study of politics, having written a book on the League of Women Voters and its vital post-suffrage role.

He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1949. After completing his bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan in 1953, he joined the army for two years, first in the infantry and then as the aide-de-camp of a major general. He then worked for two years with the International Students Association in Paris. There he met and married Rebecca (Becky) Young (1934–2008) on August 17, 1957. After completing his doctorate at Harvard, he joined the political science department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1963. Young was tenured only three years after being hired at a time when the tenure requirements were not as stringent as they are today. He became chair of the department in 1969, only six years after receiving his doctorate.

Young was also a visiting professor at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda (1965–66), dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Université Nationale du Zaire, Lubumbashi, (Democratic Republic of Congo, known then as Zaire) from 1973 to 1975 and visiting professor in the Faculty of Law at Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (Senegal), 1987–88, where he held a Fulbright fellowship. He was also invited as a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), (1980–81), and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (1983–84).

At UW-Madison, professor Young helped get the African Studies Program off the ground after its inception in 1961 and served as its chair from 1964–65 and 1966–68. He chaired the Department of Political Science (1969–72, 1984–87) and served as associate dean of the Graduate School (1968–71) and acting dean of the College of Letters & Science (1991–92). Over the years, he served on a wide range of committees across campus, chairing the Search and Screen Committee for the Chancellor, which hired Donna Shalala, and chairing the Transportation Demand Management Committee, where his strong advocacy for greater bus use, earned him the affectionate appellation from colleagues as “The Pol Pot of Parking.” This amused him to no end.

Beyond UW-Madison, he also served as president of the African Studies Association (1982–83), and won the ASA Distinguished Africanist Award (1990). He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1998) and earned an honorary degree from Florida International University that same year.

Crawford Young’s productivity throughout his career and even after retirement was remarkable. He published numerous influential monographs, establishing himself as a leading scholar of African politics and the preeminent scholar of the African state. Crawford Young’s first book, Politics in the Congo (Princeton University Press, 1965), based on his PhD thesis, was a study in federalism in the context of ethnic politics. Ideology and Development in Africa (Yale University Press, 1982), identified three major ideological streams in Africa (Afromarxism, populist socialism, and African capitalism) and looked at the different policy consequences of the various ideological preferences. The book was widely-adopted by African politics classes until the breakup of the Soviet Union led to a decline in the Afromarxist orientation. His return to Zaire in 1973–75 allowed him to work on his manuscript with a former student, Thomas Turner, The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State, (University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), which became the authoritative study of the Mobutu regime. The Politics of Cultural Pluralism (University of Wisconsin Press, 1976) won the Herskovits Prize (best book in African Studies, African Studies Association, 1977), and was co-winner of the Ralph Bunche Prize (best book in comparative ethnicity over past five years, of the American Political Science Association, 1979).

Young’s ability to synthesize the work of others, led to two masterful, far-reaching volumes, The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective (Yale University Press, 1994) and his tour de force, The Postcolonial State in Africa (University of Wisconsin Press, 2012). These volumes established professor Young as the preeminent scholar of the African state. The African Colonial State explores the logic and pathologies of European colonialism in Africa and the structural requirements of imperial domination. This book won him the Gregory Luebbert Prize from the American Political Science Association in 1995. In the second book, The Postcolonial State in Africa, Crawford Young provides a breathtakingly comprehensive overview of the 50 years following independence, drawing on the perspectives he obtained while working in Africa and his broad global points of reference. He identified three cycles of hope and disappointment, starting with the euphoria at the time of independence in the 1960s, followed by the emergence of single party autocracies and military rule. The second period was one of state expansion in the 1970s leading to state crisis and state collapse in the 1980s. And finally, there was the third wave of democratization, starting in the 1990s and the proliferation of civil wars. His nuanced magnum opus shows how the African states increasingly diverged from one another over the half century in ways that would have been difficult to predict from the outset of independence. This book won the African Politics Conference Group award as the best book on Africa in 2012. Throughout his career Young also contributed numerous articles to professional journals and anthology chapters arising from many conference volumes.

Professor Young’s oeuvre also includes numerous other books: notable among them is a 695-page history of the Department of Political Science at UW-Madison, Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: A Centennial History (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006) and his last labor of love, a self-published book honoring the pioneering efforts of his late wife as a prominent figure in Wisconsin politics, Rebecca Young, a Life of Civic Engagement and Progressive Electoral Politics (2019). She served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1985 to 1997. Young was devoted to his wife for their entire life together.

His outstanding reputation as a scholar of African politics naturally drew many PhD students to Madison to study with him. One of his students, Linda Thomas Greenfield, became Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, and had a long and an illustrious career in the foreign service, including holding positions as Director General of the Foreign Service and Ambassador to Liberia. Another PhD student, Steven Morrison, is senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and director of its Global Health Policy Center. Young trained an entire generation of prominent Africa scholars, among them Michael Schatzberg, Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, Catharine Newbury, Ed Keller, Gretchen Bauer, and Timothy Longman.

Professor Young retired from the university in 2001, remaining in Madison and living in a wing of Capitol Lakes, appropriately named “North Hall.” Young is preceded in death by his wife, Becky, and is survived by his daughters, Eva Young, Estelle Young, Emily Young, and Louise Young, who like her father, is a distinguished professor in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

M. Crawford Young’s career was part of the rise of the Wisconsin political science department to national recognition. He will be dearly missed by those who knew him and those who benefited from his lifelong contributions.