Armin Rappaport, History: San Diego

	1916-1983
	Professor

Armin Rappaport came to the University of California, San Diego in 1967 as provost of the newly founded Third College and as professor of history after a long and distinguished career, first briefly at Stanford and then for nearly two decades at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley he gained recognition not only as one of the foremost scholars in American diplomatic history but as a brilliant and gifted teacher. He was author and co-author of 12 books, among which were The British Press and Wilsonian Neutrality, The Navy League of the United States, Henry L. Stimson and Japan, and A Short History of American Diplomacy.

In addition to his research and teaching at Berkeley, he served there as assistant dean of students from 1957 to 1967 and was successful in dealing with the problems of undergraduates during those tumultuous years. This accomplishment made him an ideal candidate for the provost's position at UCSD, where he devoted himself with characteristic verve to planning in consultation with faculty and students. A difficult confrontation of political factions in 1969 unfortunately led to his withdrawal from administration, and he returned to his professorial duties. As at Berkeley, he soon became one of the most respected and popular teachers on the San Diego faculty, known to everyone as a warm and giving human being who lavished his time in counseling both graduates and undergraduates. He meanwhile served as chairman of the UCSD Department of History, which through astute recruiting he helped to build to its present size and strength.

Armin Rappaport's distinctions in the historical profession were many: he was editor of the journal of Diplomatic History, president of the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships. Yet his colleagues will remember him above all as a jovial man of immense learning and cultivated tastes who brought elegance to every company he kept. His death was a distinct

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loss to his department and to the University of California, but above all to his students and friends, to his wife of many years, Marjorie, and to his two sons.