College mourns David Macey

Author: Jack Lysohir

Professor of History and Russian Studies and longtime director of Middlebury College's program in international studies, David A.J. Macey passed away on Aug. 10. The 30-year veteran of the Middlebury faculty will be remembered for his renowned scholarship, his vision for Middlebury's international curriculum and his love of all sides of any argument.

Born in England, Macey traveled extensively as a member of the British Merchant Navy. He met his wife Phyllis while she was on holiday in England and the two subsequently started life together in Brooklyn, N.Y., where Phyllis was from. Later Macey matriculated at Brooklyn College, where he graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Macey did his graduate work at Columbia University, where he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in history. In 1978, the young historian came to Middlebury, where he taught courses in European and Russian history as well as Soviet Studies, at that time a very popular discipline.

Macey was an authority on agrarian reform in nineteenth-century Russia. "Government and Peasant Reform in Russia, 1861-1906: The Prehistory of the Stolypin Reforms", Macey's 1987 book, based largely on his studies at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University, remains one of the most important studies of pre-Revolutionary Russia. In 2004 Macey co-edited with Middlebury Economics Professor Will Pyle, and Stephen K. Wegren, "Building Market Institutions in Post-Communist Agriculture: Land, Credit, and Assistance". Therefore, Macey made important contributions to the study of Russian agricultural life on either side of Russia's communist period.

Professor of History and Department Chair Don J. Wyatt wrote that "[Macey's] scholarly interests, which focused on the plight of the Russian peasant at the turn of the twentieth century, were always self-consciously and proudly pedestrian. Never satisfied with the status quo, David, for me at least, typified the Marxian maxim that the whole point of scholarly activity is less to interpret the world than it is to change it."

In the classroom, Macey was known as a great facilitator of discussion and as one who often embraced a contrarian point of view. In courses such as "Stalin and Stalinism" and "The New Russian Revolution in Historical Perspective," Macey pushed students to think deeply about Russian history and how the Russian story fit into the greater history of European revolutions (Macey was also trained as a French historian and maintained strong interests in 18th and 19th century France and the Paris Commune). He led class discussions with open ears and a cutting, dry sense of humor that endeared him to generations of students.

Perhaps Macey's most lasting contributions to the College came in his capacity as the first director of the College's program in International Studies, a post he accepted after he established the College's program in Soviet and Eastern European studies. With his signature brown vest and rugged beard, Macey was the face of Middlebury College around the globe as he worked tirelessly to shape the school's International Studies program. From 1995 to 2006 he was the Director of Off-Campus Study. It was in this capacity that Macey established the current model of the C.V. Starr Middlebury Schools Abroad, adding 23 new sites to the Schools. Most recently, Macey helped to establish Middlebury's first Arabic language school abroad in Alexandria, Egypt. Today the C.V. Starr Middlebury Schools abroad operate programs at 30 sites in 12 countries.

Professor of History Paul Monod was a close friend and colleague of Macey's and writes that Macey's work "as director of Off-Campus study was the crowning achievement of his career…[Macey] raised the profile of OCS to a new level. He was incredibly diligent in making sure that our schools in other parts of the world conformed to the standards that we try to maintain here at Middlebury. All of the schools abroad directors loved him. He had a brilliant success at OCS and made it into one of the strongest aspects of Middlebury College."

David A.J. Macey is survived by his wife Phyllis, his two sons, Peter and Robert, and four grandchildren. A memorial event in Macey's honor will be held at the Robert A. Jones '59 House at 4:30p.m. on September 22.