- Date Of Birth: April 5, 1939
- Date Of Death: June 17, 2018
- State: Pennsylvania
Professor Emeritus William G. Shade, Ph.D, passed away peacefully on June 17, 2018. He was the husband of Mary Lou Shade and the son of the late William S. Shade and Elaine (McMahon) Shade. Bill was born in Detroit and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He earned his BA from Brown University in 1961 and a Master of Arts in teaching the following year at Brown.
Then after completing his Ph.D from Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan he began his teaching career at Temple University and then joined the Lehigh University history department in 1966, where he served as Director of American Studies for a quarter century and helped establish the African American studies program and the Women’s history program at Lehigh.
Bill also taught at Lafayette College, the University of Virginia, the University of Ireland in Galway, University College Limerick, Ireland, the University of Nottingham and most recently the Moscow State University in Moscow, Russia. A prolific author, editor and Ph.D advisor, his works included, Banks or No Banks, The Money Issue in Western Politics, 1832-1865, Our American Sisters: Women in American Life and Thought (Volumes 1-4), Seven on Black and Before The Molly Maguires.
Bill’s 1996 book, Democratizing the Old Dominion: Virginia and the Second Party System, 1824-1861, has caused ante-bellum historians to rethink the events leading to the Civil War. Bill was an avid jazz fan and world traveler who was very proud of the achievements of his children and grandchildren. He will be remembered with love by his wife of 56 years Mary Lou, his daughter Alexandra Shade Newell and son-in-law Robert Newell of Saucon Valley, PA, his son Christopher Shade, Ph.D and daughter-in-law Nadine Shade of Erie, Colorado, and his grandsons Aidan Newell, Jackson Newell, Thomas Shade and Pierre Shade.
