Dr. Ed Wynot (1943-2020)

It is with much fondness that I remember our departed colleague Ed Wynot.  I first met Ed when he was on the search committee that hired me in 1995.  From the very start of my time at FSU he was a welcoming and friendly presence. Given the closeness of our fields, we shared many of the same students.  I quickly discovered that he was a popular and very good teacher.  Ed loved the classroom, and he spread that enthusiasm to his students.  Whenever I passed him in the hall on his way to teach his large World History section, he would tell me with a humorous gleam in his eyes that he was “off to harangue the masses.”  Many of those “harangued” students would later take his upper-level East European History class just to have another class with him. Even years later when I encounter Ed’s former students, they always reflect on what a great lecturer and teacher he was for them.  Sometimes Ed surprised me by leaving an article related to my work in my mailbox. It was like a secret research pixie had left me a present.  I am saddened by his passing, but I always smile when I remember Ed Wynot as my friend and colleague.      

A tribute by Dr. Jonathan Grant