Thursday, Oct 27, 2016
Poivan was an emeritus professor of history at Rider University
James H. Poivan, emeritus professor of history at Rider University and a resident of Pennington for over 25 years, died on Oct. 13, 2016. He was 96.
A native of Paterson, N.J., he spent his early years in an orphanage and in foster homes and was forced to leave high school for factory work during the Depression in the 1930s.
A combat veteran of World War II, he served three years in the army, saw action in Europe from Normandy to the war’s end with a Tank Destroyer Battalion in General Patton’s Third Army and earned five battle stars including one for the Battle of the Bulge.
He then attended Rutgers University thanks to the G.I. Bill, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. After a year of post-graduate study at Columbia University, he returned to Rutgers and earned a master’s and a doctorate.
Poivan then began a long teaching career, first as a lecturer in history at University College, Rutgers and then at Rider University, where he taught history for more than 30 years.
He was a secular humanist, a sometime visiting fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge University, a member of the American Association of University Professors, the American Historical Association and the American Civil Liberties Union.
There will be no funeral service.