Sterling Fishman

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University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty Document 1346
6 April 1998

MEMORIAL RESOLUTION OF THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

ON THE DEATH OF EMERITUS PROFESSOR STERLING FISHMAN

Sterling Fishman, Emeritus Professor of Educational Policy Studies and of History, died on October 30, 1997, in a local hospital. With his passing our University lost a distinguished colleague and friend to many who shared his passion for humanistic study and scholarship.

Born in St. Louis, Sterling received an undergraduate degree from Washington University in 1952 and a master's degree in History from the University of Wisconsin two years later, followed by a Ph.D. in History in 1960. After teaching at Harpur College and then Douglass College, he returned to Madison as an assistant professor in 1964, rising through the ranks in the Departments of Educational Policy Studies and of History, becoming a full professor in 1969. His service to the University was long and distinguished: as department chair of Educational Policy Studies (1967-69), Summer Chair of History (1971), Executive Chair of the Social Studies Division (1975-76), and Chair of West European Area Studies (1986-1990).

In addition to publishing a number of articles and book reviews, Sterling wrote, co-authored, and edited several books. Perhaps his most important books include The Struggle for German Youth: The Search for Educational Reform in Imperial Germany, 1890-1914 (1974) and his co-authored volume, Estranged Twins: Education and Society in the Two Germanys (1987). As an alumnus of the University, he honored the Wisconsin Idea in practice, enthusiastically teaching courses on the Wisconsin Educational Radio Network and appearing as a guest on call-in shows, the latter as recently as the summer before his death.

Sterling's commitment to humanistic scholarship was lifelong. A dedicated and inspiring teacher, he was a Fulbright lecturer in West Germany in 1979. Across the course of his career he lectured in several other countries, most recently in Lisbon, Portugal. His passion was the history of childhood and European cultural and intellectual history. Given his reputation as a scholar and teacher, he not surprisingly gave the keynote address at the First International Congress for the History of Childhood in Bamberg, West Germany, in 1984. His popular courses in the history of childhood and European cultural history drew upon his vast reservoir of knowledge about the past. One of the best read scholars on our campus, he also spent an inordinate amount of time on his teaching, organizing a collection of thousands of slides and images on the history of childhood and adolescence, all used creatively in the classroom. Only a few days before he died, he gave a masterful lecture on the history of child labor to his undergraduates and also a virtuoso performance before his peers at the annual meeting of the History of Education Society.

When Sterling died, notes of condolence poured in from colleagues and friends around the world, who realized that the academic community had lost a special voice. Last December, friends, colleagues, and family gathered at a special memorial observance at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and a special fund has been created in his memory to advance the cause of learning among graduate students. Sterling consistently defended the highest academic standards, civilized discourse, and humanistic ideals. To do so often required not only conviction but courage. We will long mourn Sterling Fishman's passing but may gain comfort from remembering the high example he set for us as friend, colleague, and scholar.

MEMORIAL COMMITTEE
Theodore Hamerow
Andreas Kazamias
Herbert M. Kliebard
George Mosse
Daniel Pekarsky
William J. Reese, Chair
Francis Schrag