It is with great sadness that we share the news that Jim Bergquist, long-time editor of the IEHS Newsletter, died on August 1, following complications from a fall.
Jim was Professor Emeritus of History at Villanova University, where he taught 19th century U.S. history and U.S. immigration history for 37 years, until his retirement in 2001. Prior to Villanova, he taught at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Jim was a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BA) and Northwestern University (MA, PhD). He published close to two dozen articles on German immigration and German ethnic communities. In 2007, he published Daily Life In Immigrant America, 1820-1870 (Greenwood Press). Jim was actively involved in a number of professional organizations: the American Historical Association, the German Society of Pennsylvania, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Organization of American Historians, and the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies.
Jim served as newsletter editor for almost twenty years, from 1995 to 2013. He carefully compiled news and information for his colleagues in immigration history. Many of us relied on Jim’s information-packed newsletters for the latest news on grants and fellowships; conferences, workshops and symposia; and the most recent publications in our field. It was a true labor of love.
Jim is survived by his wife Joan Solon Bergquist, brother Tim Bergquist, Joan Stevens Bergquist, his sons John and Charles, and three grandchildren, Gregory, Paul, and Lucy. The family requests that any donations in Jim’s memory be made to the Devereux Foundation, www.devereux.org.
Provided here is a link to his obituary: http://www.legacy.com/
Jim will be missed.
Obituary by Maria Cristina Garcia on behalf of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society