Sad News: Maurice "Maury" Stein
Dear Colleagues,We recently learned the sad news that Maurice Stein, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, passed away on August 18, 2023 at the age of 96.
Born in 1926 in Buffalo, New York, Maury saw worlds of change during his near century of life. Family members recall his tales of street cars and all-Yiddish newspapers. Having served in Okinawa and Korea as a radio-telegraph operator in the US Army (1944-1946), he was apt in later life to tap out messages in Morse code absentmindedly while reading. After the war, Maury attended the University of Buffalo and then Columbia University. Upon receiving his doctorate, he began a 50-year career teaching sociology, starting at Dartmouth and Oberlin and followed by 46 years at Brandeis.
At Brandeis, Maury participated in several decades of rapid growth. In the sixties, he helped plan and chair an innovative graduate sociology program. This is when he met his colleague and decades-long close friend, Morrie Schwartz. Maury was a fierce advocate for civil rights, women’s rights, and world peace. Both his children remember frequent trips to protest on Cambridge Common. He also stood out as an advocate at Brandeis, sponsoring an early queer studies course. In the late 70’s, he began teaching “Birth and Death,” a wildly popular course taken by thousands of students over the decades. The course countered the very American fear of death and offered a more beautiful, nuanced narrative that many students took to heart and Maury embodied, even up to the moment of his own passing.
Maury’s books include The Eclipse of Community, Identity and Anxiety (with A. Vidich and D. White), Reflections on Community Studies (with A. Vidich and J. Bensman), and most notably Blueprint for Counter Education (with Larry Miller), which has been celebrated in libraries and art museums throughout the US and Europe. Maury was also founding Dean of the School of Critical Studies at California Institute of the Arts and earned a life-long Research Contribution Award from the Community Section of the American Sociological Association.
During his fifty years of college instruction, Maury was a revered teacher who cherished the chance to interact deeply with colleagues and students. After retirement, he maintained his intellectual curiosity and passion for teaching. At Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement, Maury found intellectual fulfilment and companionship, teaching and participating in classes for 10 years.
In Maury’s last years, he struggled with Alzheimer’s. Even as he forgot what happened that morning, or when he gave impromptu lectures in the middle of the night, he remained peaceful and loving. To paraphrase Fred Small, “When I run out of words, I will be only love.”
Maury is survived by his wife of 59 years Phyllis, his children, Paul and Ninian, and their families. I am grateful to Maury’s family and to Sarah Mayorga of the Department of Sociology for their contributions to this memoriam.
Contributions in Maury Stein's honor can be made to the ACLU, Good Shepherd Community Care Hospice, or to a charity of choice. Memories of Maury can be shared and found at https://www.forevermissed.com/maury-stein.
Sincerely,
Carol A. Fierke
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs