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SZASZ -- Ferenc Morton Szasz A New Mexican by adoption, Regents Professor of History, Ferenc M. Szasz was born in Davenport, Iowa, February 14, 1940. His father, Ferenc Paul Szasz, was a naturalized American citizen who was born in Budapest and raised in Vienna. Ferenc P. Szasz was a mechanical engineer by trade and came to the United States in 1936. Mary Plummer Szasz was born in Iowa and became a beloved high school English teacher. Professor Szasz attended Bucyrus High School, where he excelled in basketball and academics. His childhood fascination with comic books led to the ultimate trade - the Number I Mad Magazine. After graduating as salutatorian of his class, he attended Ohio Wesleyan University. There he met Professor Richard W. Smith, whose inspiring teaching motivated Professor Szasz to pursue a graduate degree in history at the University of Rochester. While he was researching for his dissertation, he received a phone call from History Professor Gerald D. Nash, which resulted in an offer to teach at the University of New Mexico. In 1967, he drove his green Plymouth Valiant west to Albuquerque, where he began the first of his 43 years of teaching. When asked recently about his teaching career, he said, "I would like to have taught ten years more." Over the course of his career, he taught well over 20,000 undergraduates, plus an endless stream of graduate students. The secret of his appeal lay in his compassion, knowledge, ability to listen, his honesty, his humility and his sense of humor. Comic relief was his mantra and, like Abraham Lincoln, he used it with finesse and as a source of healing. Just ask one of the following--Elmer T. Rostowski, Unca Scrooge and D. Duck, Tubby, Red Ryder, Hobbes, Atomic Mouse, and Barefoot Gen. A specialist in American History, he taught the U.S. History Survey, American Social and Intellectual History, America in WWII, History of Religion in America and graduate seminars on various topics, including Historical Biography. In the spring of 2009, Professor Szasz delivered the Annual Research lecture, the most prestigious award honoring a member of the UNM faculty. The recipient of other numerous accolades, Professor Szasz published over 100 articles and many books, including The Day The Sun Rose Twice, The Divided Mind of Protestant America, British Scientists and The Manhattan Project, Great Mysteries of the West, Larger Than Life: New Mexico in the Twentieth Century and Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns: Connected Lives and Legends. His forthcoming book, which has been accepted by The University of Nevada Press at Reno is entitled: "Atomic Comics: How Cartoonists Shaped the Nation's Understanding of the Atomic Age". One of his former colleagues summed up his multiple interests, suggesting that Professor Szasz was intrigued by "things Atomic" and "things of the spirit." His passion for Abraham Lincoln inspired a lifetime of research on the man who became his hero. His passion for Scotland, which he shared with his wife Margaret, led to a renewed love for the poetry of Robert Burns. Both men wielded the pen to express the power of words; it was this magnet that forged a bond between Professor Szasz, Lincoln and Burns. In his classes, with his colleagues, in his writing, in his public speaking and with his family, he leaves a legacy with his gift of words. He, too, was a master storyteller. In Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns, he wrote, "one was a poet whose message was laced with politics, and the other a politician whose message was laced with poetry." (pg 12). His biggest surviving fans are his wife Margaret Connell-Szasz; son Eric Garretson; daughter Chris Garretson Bradley and husband Scott Bradley; daughter Maria Szasz and husband Jonathan Rath; grandsons, Tyler, Sean and Matthew Bradley; as well as his extended family. A public memorial will take place at the University of New Mexico chapel on August 27, 2010. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the following: The Ferenc Morton Szasz and Margaret Connell-Szasz PhD Dissertation Fellowship in History, University of New Mexico College of Arts and Sciences, MSC 03 2120, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, Attn: Jeff MacNutt.
        Published on: Sun June 27, 2010