Donald F. Lach

Donald Frederick Lach (pronounced "lock") (1917–26 October 2000) was an eminent American historian. He was a noted authority on Asian influence in the European civilization during the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries.

Biography

Donald Lach was born in 1917 in Pittsburgh to German immigrant parents. After completing elementary education in public schools, he received a B.A. degree from West Virginia University (1937), and a Ph.D. from University of Chicago (1941). In 1939 he married Alma Elizabeth Satorius (who became a successful chef and cookbook author). They had a daughter, born 1943.^[1]

After his retirement the family continued living in Chicago, where he died (in a Chicago hospital) in 2000.

Career

Lach began his teaching career at Elmira College (1941-1948), then returned to a post at the University of Chicago. He received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in France (1949—1950) and a Social Science Research grant to continue his European research (1952—1953).

He co–authored two books in the early 1950s: "Modern Far Eastern International Relations" (with University of Chicago professor Harley Farnsworth MacNair (1950); and "Europe and the Modern World" (published in two volumes, 1951 & 1954; with University of Chicago professor Louis Gottschalk). In 1957, Lach published a translation, with commentary, of the preface to Leibniz' "Novissima Sinica".

Lach taught in Taiwan (1955—1956) at the National Chegchih University and National Taiwan University. In 1967—1968 he taught in India, at the University of Delhi.

In 1965 he co–edited (with Carol Flaumenhaft) "Asia on the Eve of Europe's Expansion". Also in 1965 he issued the first volume of his magnum opus, "Asia in the Making of Europe – A Century of Discovery".

In 1969 Lach was named Bernadotte E. Schmitt Professor in History at the University of Chicago. The following year, the first book of the second volume of "Asia in the making of Europe" was published. Books two and three, subtitled "A Century of Advance", followed in 1977.

Lach was the principal researcher and author of the three widely praised volumes, with the joint title Asia in the Making of Europe, about European interchanges with Asia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A 1994 article in Commentary described the series as a masterwork of scholarship. Lach was the sole author of the first volume ("The Century of Discovery"), and of the second volume which was issued in three sections ("A Century of Wonder", 1970, 1977, 1977). The third volume was also issued in three sections ("A Century of Advance"); it was co–written with a colleague, Edwin J. Van Kley.

A secondary interest of Lach's was the political situation in East Asia in the mid-20th century. In 1975, Lach and Edmund S. Wehrle's "International politics in East Asia since World War II" was released.

Lach was elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1984.^[2] He retired from teaching in 1988, but continued researching and writing Volume 3 of "Asia in the Making of Europe",

"Asia in the Making of Europe" is one of the first histories of Europe to give thorough consideration to outside influences on European culture. Lach's treatment of the influence of Asia on Europe in the Modern period considers the effects of discovery and exchange on botany, geography, ethnography, philosophy, history, medicine, and zoology. He studied European manuscripts, art, artifacts, and primary Asian sources.

Lach was proficient in English, French, German, Spanish, and Dutch, Chinese, and several other Asian languages.

Later life

Lach continued to reside in Chicago after retirement. He died in a Chicago hospital. He was survived by his wife, the former Alma Satorius; a daughter, Sandra Arlinghaus of Ann Arbor, Mich.; a grandson; and a great-grandson.^[3]

In 2001 his colleagues, friends, former students, and family established The Donald F. Lach Memorial Book Fund at the University of Chicago Library.^[1]

References

1. Guide to the Donald F. Lach Papers, 1925—1994
2. Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1950-1999
3. Donald F. Lach, 83, Historian and Author, New York Times, 6 November 2000