One of the past century's great thinkers, a man with something intelligent to say about everything from baseball to Berlioz, Jacques Barzun died Thursday at his home in San Antonio.
He was 104.
Barzun, who at age 93 published his best-selling "From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life" and was a finalist for the National Book Award, wrote and edited more than 40 books over seven decades. A graduate of Columbia University, he held various academic and administrative positions at the New York school from 1928 until his retirement in 1975.
A couple of years ago, novelist and Trinity University professor emeritus Robert Flynn checked in with his longtime friend by phone, as he did occasionally, and reported that the renowned educator, then 102 years old, was re-reading the classics and had just finished "War and Peace" - again.
"There are people who haven't read it once," Flynn said. "I have, once, and likely will not read it again."
"Jacques believed in learning," said Flynn, author of the Texas classic "North to Yesterday," "and he learned all his life, usually with at least two books within reach. He always knew more and had better information than anyone around him, even on subjects in which others were supposed to be experts. Jacques learned, led, taught and grew all his life until he outgrew this life."
The cause of death, said Barzun's wife Marguerite, was "old age."
"He was just used up," she said. "He didn't even want to read the newspaper anymore. He told me he wanted to die at home, and I promised I'd take care of him."
"As a writer, thinker and scholar Jacques was a singular example of someone who was conversant and better informed on every subject, historical era, art form and branch of knowledge than any dozen people combined," said former San Antonio Express-News Columnist Cary Clack, another close friend. "He was a wonderful literary stylist, a model of clear and cogent writing. Personally, he was a friend who offered advice on writing and living, who encouraged me and who often let me know that he cared about and was proud of me."
Writer Barbara Stanush recalls mentioning a book to Barzun once - "One of his books, actually, and the next week he sent it to me with a gracious note. He was the most generous, brilliant person. It is inconceivable what was going on in his mind."
Barzun's interests were broad, ranging from science and medicine to education, etymology, literature, art and philosophy - and just about everything in between.
A quick perusal of his titles indicates the flexibility of his mind: "Race: A Study in Superstition," "Of Human Freedom," "Darwin, Marx, Wagner," "Romanticism and the Modern Ego," "The Energies of Art," "Music in American Life," "God's Country and Mine," "The House of Intellect, "Science: The Glorious Entertainment," "The American University" and "A Stroll With William James."
"I first read 'Darwin, Marx, Wagner' and 'Classic, Romantic, and Modern' in high school and have followed Jacques Barzun's work avidly ever since," said Steven G. Kellman, professor of comparative literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio and author of "Redemption: The Life of Henry Roth."
"He was for me the very model of a humanist, an inspiring example of the capaciousness of the human mind. Erudite but not esoteric, Barzun wrote about everything from baseball to Berlioz with authority, clarity, and grace."
Barzun was indeed a great authority on the French composer Hector Berlioz, his 1982 book "Berlioz and the Romantic Century" is considered an essential text on the composer, but perhaps he is best known for saying: "Whoever wants to understand the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball."
In May, the San Antonio Symphony honored Barzun with a Berlioz program in a concert sponsored by H-E-B Chairman and CEO Charles Butt.
"I have a lot of respect for him," Butt told the Express-News before the concert. "He's probably the best-read person I've ever known. I value his friendship. I wanted to honor him."
Barzun said simply, "I cannot imagine a grander honor."
An educator at Columbia for more than five decades, Barzun pioneered the field of cultural history and oversaw, with literary critic Lionel Trilling, the university's famous Great Books course for many years.
Several of Barzun's books, such as "Teacher in America" and "The House of Intellect," ignited debate far outside the academic community.
And that was because Barzun embraced popular culture and wrote about lofty ideas in a way that most people could understand.
Our Lady of the Lake University Professor Nan Cuba said, "I carry with me his familiar quote: 'Have a point and make it by means of the best word.'"
In a rare public appearance in 2010 at University Presbyterian Church, Barzun said that as a young student he was struck by the notion that social history was "empty and dry and somewhat limited."
"Cultural history is open to everything," he said.
A few years ago, Columbia University provost and history Professor Alan Brinkley told the Express-News that Barzun "was not just a scholar at a university but someone who communicated with a much larger audience."
"He was an example of the way in which a great scholar can also be a great public intellectual," Brinkley said.
Added Kellman: "Long before cultural studies became fashionable and formalized, Barzun was examining history as the work not just of politicians and generals but also of poets, composers and philosophers."
Barzun, who won the Gold Medal for Criticism from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, of which he was twice president, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003 and the National Humanities Medal in 2010, was especially proud of a special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for "A Catalogue of Crime: Being a Reader's Guide to the Literature of Mystery, Detection, & Related Genres."
Born in Créteil, near Paris, on Nov. 30, 1907, Barzun grew up in an artistically and intellectually stimulating climate. His father, Henri-Martin Barzun, was a writer and diplomat, and visitors to the Barzun house included artist Marcel Duchamp and composer Edgard Varése.
"I grew up on the makers of the modern arts in Paris, in the cubist decade," he told the Express-News in 1998, shortly after moving to San Antonio from New York with Marguerite, whom he met a decade earlier when the Trinity American Studies professor introduced Barzun for one of his San Antonio university lectures. "As a child I hung out with painters, poets, musicians, politicians and others at my parents' house, and so I early acquired the notion that there is not (just) one single thing going on in the world."
Sent on a diplomatic mission to the United States during WWI, Barzun's father decided an American education would be right for his son, since European universities still would be rebuilding in the wake of the war. He was valedictorian of the class of 1927 of Columbia, as well as president of the Philolexian Society, the literary and debate club.
Barzun would go on to have a long and sometimes controversial career at his beloved university. After retiring, he concentrated on his main love - writing - finishing "Dawn to Decadence" at his Northeast San Antonio home.
"I tended to grow up thinking that writing was the only career," he told the University Presbyterian audience in 2010. "It had naturalness to it that others didn't."
Sitting in a wheelchair in a suit and tie, his white hair brushed to the side, he got a laugh when he called teaching "a dreadful profession."
"It involves taking people's minds and stuffing them with the entire contents of your own," he said.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
June 18, 2017
Valenda Newell
January 9, 2015
Please accept my sincere condolences and sincere prayers that go out to the surviving family and friends. May the God of comfort continue to bless you and yours especially after such an untimely loss of a very precious life please accept my deepest sympathies. (2 Cor. 1:2, 3).
March 5, 2014
A gracious and respectable person whose work has done so much to bring so much joy to many of us in these troubled times hard to deal with (2 Tim 3:1). Perhaps more will continue to have positive experiences from a wonderful work that has an impactful contribution to life and its anxieties.
June 12, 2013
James Newman
Having him here in San Antonio was like having a bright light in a dark room.
He will be missed. He was a true intellectual, quite a rare thing in San Antonio.
April 16, 2013
Tom Wright
The loss of his thoughts and his voice leaves the world a sadder, poorer and less literate place.
November 5, 2012
Margaret King Stanley
Marguerite,
I am so sorry about the loss of this great man. He will not be forgotten because his words and ideas will live on. I send you my deepest sympathy and love,
Margaret
November 4, 2012
Laurance Guido MD
Columbia has lost a giant.
November 4, 2012
Alice Sackett
We were very privileged to have Dr. Barzun at our "Classic Books" meeting one day, and to have an autographed copy of his "From Dawn to Decadence" in our Northwood Presbyterian Church Library.
November 1, 2012
I was a student attending Prof. Barzun's graduate history department class on Social and Cultural History of Europe in 1950/51. At first his lectures were far more learned and erudite than I could comprehend. By the end of the course, happily, I belive that I could understand most, but not necessarily all of his resoning, knowledge, content and linkages. Yet I remain to this day a full admirer of his teaching and writing. Murray Feshbach, Ph.D., Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC
November 1, 2012
TO THE BARZUN FAMILY,I'M SORRY TO HEAR OF YOUR GRIEF.KNOW THAT GOD HAS SET A DAY IN WHICH HE PURPOSES BY A MAN WHOM HE HAS APPOINTED,AND HE HAS FURNISHED A GUARANTEE TO ALL MEN IN THAT HE HAS RESURRECTED HIM FROMTHE DEAD,"--acts 17:31.....{d.m}
October 31, 2012
Arthur Michael Ambrosino
He was an inspiration, I could only hope to live such a long, useful life and leave a legacy as great as his....
October 31, 2012
David Lefton
I had the delight and pleasure to work for Mr. Barzun for several years. He always showed me the highest standard of ethics and business propriety. He was an inspiration. My sincere condolences to Mrs. Barzun and family.
October 31, 2012
Eugene Holley, Jr.
As an Black man who grow up in the sixties, when it was fashionable to think of myself as an African rather than an American, the writings of Prof. Barzun forced me to celebrate the complexity of my Afro-American identity, birthright and heritage. Thank you professor. May you forever dwell on the Mount Olympus of humanity's greatest minds.
October 29, 2012
I am so sorry for the loss of your loved one.Please find peace and comfort in Psalms 65:2.
October 29, 2012
I am sorry for your loss. God never allows the righteous to totter, for He is a refuge and strength.
October 29, 2012
Heartfelt condolences to family and loved ones on your loss. May the God of all comfort be with you.
October 29, 2012
DJ
My Condolences to the Barzun Family. In your time of grief, May the God of loving-kindness and comfort, comfort your family. Psalm 119:50,76
October 28, 2012
To the the family of Jacques Barzun - May God give you peace and comfort through his word and the Lord Jesus Christ during this time of sorrow, I know that he will be missed by many.
October 28, 2012
VA
My deepest condolences are with you at this time of need. Know that god
feels your pain as well. Go to him in prayer and he will comfort you very
much.
Sincerely,
Ms J
October 28, 2012
David Dannenbaum
I continue to read his works and the works he wrote about. He clarified complicated ideas, which helped me improve my relationship with the world around me.
I hope GOD'S COUNTRY AND MINE gets republished.
I shall rise now and take another stroll with Barzun and James.
October 28, 2012
roger lemons
Professor Barzun Thank you, For making it possible for me to "Stroll" with you. Through your books I found "a quite self confidence ", purpose and meaning in life. I am proud to be both a generalist and Amateur . Roger lemons
October 27, 2012
larry newberry
I have read almost everything he has written (many times)and wish for more.
October 27, 2012
Nancy Kwallek
What a wonderful human being--was touched by him through his writings.
October 27, 2012
Fritz Swischer
Stunned when I read THE HOUSE OF INTELLECT in NYC 1971, I learned how to think seeing the whole picture develop from its details. Mr. Barzun will always be one of my heroes.
October 27, 2012
Charles Barzun
Here's one of my favorite passages of my grandfather's, from a lecture he gave in 1969 entitled "Present Day Thoughts on the Quality of Life." He closed the lecture with these words:
"What the future will be is not the business of an historian to say. But whether the future lies with or without industry, with or without democracy, with or without science and technology, it is at least conceivable that the future will be without them, either through catastrophe or willful rejection. No matter. What is certain is that the desire not for life alone, not for brutish life, but for a special quality in life will not cease, even for the last shivering inhabitant of a devastated planet. That desire is planted deep, and it seeks its fulfillment, which is what makes humanity other than animal."
October 27, 2012
God bless ~
October 27, 2012
I am so sorry for the loss of your loved one. Please find peace and comfort in Psalms 65:2.
October 27, 2012
A.A
Please accept my deep sorrow for the loss of your loved one. May you all draw close to the God of comfort at this time. James 4:8
October 27, 2012
mark stern
He left a legacy .
October 27, 2012
My condolences to the Barzun family. May you find comfort in prayer at this sad time. Psalms 65:2
October 27, 2012
Pierre C
Modern culture is in mourning because her eldest son is no more. Toutes mes condoleances a votre famille. RIP Dr. Barzun.
October 26, 2012
Martha Tevis
Dear Marguerite, I was so sad to hear of your loss. You and your family are in my prayers. Your friend from OLLU, Martha
October 26, 2012
Avi Conzevoy
Jacques Barzun changed my life when I was in college... I've given out 7 copies of From Dawn to Decadence as presents to people (and recommended it many times more). I just wish I could have told him how much I appreciated his work personally.
I'm very sorry for your family's loss.
October 26, 2012
Cg
Barun family trust in the hearer of prayer...before him pour out your heart God is a refuge for us. Psalm 68:2. I extend my condolences to the family.
October 26, 2012
Wladyslaw Kordas
Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine.
Et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Requiescat in pace. Amen.
October 26, 2012
To the family. I am sorry for your loss. May the God of comfort grant you peace in this time of your grief.
October 26, 2012
philip meguire
My condolences to Mrs Barzun and his descendants.
My French mother, born in 1924, immigrated to the USA to join my American father. When I asked her what France has contributed to modern America, her assured reply was "Jacques Barzun." He was the greatest American humanist of the 20th century.
October 26, 2012
Seppo Korpela
I read Barzun's American University during my first term in 1972 of stepping into a faculty position. He was my guiding light and steadfast pillar, as I observed the steady decay of intellectual life in a university.
October 26, 2012
MARIAN XANTHOS
ON BEHALF OF THE XANTHOS FAGGI FAMILY
MY DEEPEST SYMPATHY TO THE BARZUN FAMILY.
IN MEMORY OF VIRGINIA AND JOHN FAGGI.
October 26, 2012
Howard Frankl
I met Jacques Barzun in 1951, then knew him, as I had met him, in his writing. His good nature and clear thinking helped me through my youth and now through each day, while I am about a year away from 80. He was and is sane, clear and loving. An exemplary man.
October 26, 2012
Nathan P. Bridle
It may seem trite to put 'he changed my life', but so many can agree he did. Whatever skills I have as a historian, as an active participant in what matters I owe to him. Dr Barzun set very high standards, as should be the case, and my life will be an ongoing effort to reach them.
October 26, 2012
PETER GERDINE
I was acquainted with Barzun's House of Intellect, in graduate school, Chapel Hill. I also know his grandson Henri, Concord, Mass. He would be proud!
October 26, 2012
Charles Scribner III
Jacques was quite simply the greatest man of letters I've ever known. He and my late father were colleagues at Scribners on a plane way above mere mortals. Sharing in that experience and knowing him, and benefiting from his editorial eagle eye and perfect pitch are treasures that last a lifetime. God bless Jacques and all his family.
October 26, 2012
Anne Fadiman
To me Jacques was synonymous with civilization. It is therefore hard to believe that the latter can continue without the former. It will, of course, but it will be diminished.
October 26, 2012
Brenda Scott
To the family of Jacques Barzun, Death is never pleasant,may God, who give us peace be with your famil at this time.Revalations chapter 21:4 gives us all hope for the future.
October 26, 2012
Eric Robert Morse
San Antonio and the world have lost their greatest thinker, writer, historian, theorist, and critic. We are immeasurably richer because of him, and can only do justice by multiplying his ideas.
October 26, 2012
Peter Bloom
Jacques Barzun was my mentor and friend, largely by correspondence, for well over forty years. The tributes rightly praise his encyclopedic mind, his intellectual generosity, his wide-ranging curiosity, his embodiment of excellence. Let us not forget that joined to his remarkably well-stocked mind, his sense of fairness, his delight in debate, was what I would call his sense of mirth. "From Dawn to Decadence" may portray decline, but as he observed it, Jacques always seemed cheerful, and amused.
Peter Bloom
Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities
Smith College
October 26, 2012
Doug Brown
Farewell to a hero. Condolences to his family and friends.
October 26, 2012
What a nice tribute to a man who gave his all in whatever he tried. My deepest condolences to the Barzun Family and all who stayed close by him in all his trials. Take comfort in the promise God gives us, that one day, no resident will say "I am sick" but all can look forward to the opportunity to live forever.(John 17:3)
October 26, 2012
Dr. Marshall Thomas
Rest in Peace, dear friend. Ruth and I shall miss you, terribly.
October 26, 2012
Bernard A. Weisberger My condolences to the immediate family, and to the huge family of all those of us who found, in a phrase he sometimes used himself, "pleasure and profit" in his explorations and expositions of our multifaceted culture
October 26, 2012
I am immensely saddened that he is not with us any more. I still cannot believe it.
Monir Tayeb (Scotland)
October 26, 2012
Ted Price
I've studied with him since the 40s, CBS Invitation to Learning, his Lowell lectures at the Boston Public Library, and the Barzun-Trilling seminar. Fare Forward.
[email protected]
October 26, 2012
May his great soul rest with all the souls of the faithful departed. +
Joe Lowrey
October 26, 2012
Professor Barzun was a legend when I attended Columbia College. However, I never met him in person until many years later, when he graced us with his presence at a Columbia alumni gathering in Washington DC. Au revoir to a great man whose light will continue to illuminate all who read his many works.
Roy Russo, 1956C
October 26, 2012
Christopher Reid
Reading Jacques Barzun changed my life. His wise words gave me the intellectual light and nourishment to grow as a thinker and citizen.
October 26, 2012
Seth Guggenheim
That Dr. Barzun's mind remained so keen for years following his hundredth birthday is something we all must celebrate. I am sorry he won't be here to enjoy his 105th birthday this November 30th. He has left so much for us to treasure, and to emulate, that we can only be thankful that he had so much time to educate us and to teach us valuable lessons in civility.
My condolences to Dr. Barzun's family and his many close and dear friends.
May he rest in eternal peace.
October 26, 2012
Christopher Faille
A wonderful man and mind, he will be missed, and his influence will grow. As he "strolled" with William James, so generations yet unborn will learn the benefits of strolling with Jacques Barzun.
October 26, 2012
Robert Morris
He was indeed unique: both a great and good man.
October 26, 2012
Leo Wong
"Sitting sided by side with Jacques at the head of a long table week after week made the intellectual ground on which I walked and the intellectual air I breathed." So Lionel Trilling. And so, I know, many of us reading Jacques' many books over many years. Many thanks and much love, Jacques, and condolences "to all whom it may concern."
October 26, 2012
Mr. Barzun was an inspiration and guide to me. We never met but we touched.
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