Obituary: David Spring, Longtime Professor in History
Department, Dies at 86
David Spring, professor of
history at Johns Hopkins for four decades, died on Nov.
12 in Baltimore of complications following heart disease.
He was 86.
Born on April 29, 1918, in Toronto, Canada, Spring
graduated from the University of Toronto and received his
doctorate from Harvard. He served during World War II in
both the Canadian army and navy, in the latter as naval
historian. After lecturing at the University of Toronto, he
arrived in 1949 at Johns Hopkins, from which he retired in
1989 as professor emeritus.
Spring was the recipient of numerous awards in the
course of a distinguished career, including fellowships
from the Ford and Guggenheim foundations and the National
Endowment for the Humanities. He also was a fellow of the
Royal Historical Society of Great Britain.
A scholar in modern British social history, Spring had
a special interest in the English landed aristocracy. His
publications include The English Landed Estate in the
Nineteenth Century: Its Administration (1963) and European
Landed Elites in the Nineteenth Century (1977). With Eileen
Spring, his wife, he also wrote Ecology and Religion in
History (1974), reflecting his longtime concern for
environmental preservation. He was an early activist in the
campaign to preserve the natural beauty of Assateague
Island.
John Baldwin, professor emeritus of history and a
long-standing colleague of Spring's, said, "What I admired
most about David, in addition to his teaching and research,
was his broad range of interests, from bird-watching to
flute-playing, including an avid and perceptive reading of
Jane Austen." Another friend and former colleague, Philip
Curtin, professor emeritus of history, remembered Spring
for his skills as a conversationalist and an urbane public
speaker.
Spring is survived by his wife of 57 years, Eileen
Spring. Plans for memorial events by the History Department
will be announced.
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