David Ekbladh, Reflections on Bruce Mazlish

I will remember Bruce in many ways.  I first met him when he tracked me down at some gathering while I was a visiting scholar at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (and a nobody).  Bruce plucked me out of the crowd simply because he was interested in my work.  I was even more surprised when he again sought me out at a later reception.  He pulled my wife and I outside, settling us into a brisk discussion about the relevance of the historical topic I worked on to global history.  All the while he maintained a warm and engaged conversation with my spouse, who recalls him fondly to this day.

We would meet occasionally afterward and I always enjoyed his perspective and his taste for Chinese food.  He was always direct and clear about his views and did not hide behind false praise, but to a younger scholar it was marvelous to see how someone who had maintained a multiplicity of scholarly projects over the course of a long career was still interested in new work.  This was not as fodder for his agenda but because he found new avenues of inquiry appealing.  I was also taken by his energy for the idea of global history and the investment he made in cultivating the field.  The Toynbee Prize Foundation was something he valued and its vitality might be one of the best memorials to Bruce and his work. He was also a deeply humane figure and someone whose absence will be noticed.