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Skidmore College
Skidmore Retirees

William Brynteson

William Brynteson, professor emeritus of history, died June 13, 2004, in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

Bill obtained masterā€™s and doctoral degrees in history at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He joined Skidmoreā€™s history faculty in 1964, after briefly teaching at San Diego State University. He chaired Skidmoreā€™s history department from 1978 to 1987 and served on a number of faculty and college committees. Described by a colleague as ā€œa medievalist by vocation, but in practice a true renaissance man,ā€ he taught Greek, Roman, and medieval history and civilization, as well as intellectual history. Together with Helga Doblin in foreign languages, he helped develop Skidmoreā€™s classics department. In 1984 he was selected by his colleagues to deliver the Moseley Faculty Research Lecture.

Billā€™s students knew him for his brilliant lectures and demanding assignments. He extended his teaching to local high-school students, taught in Skidmoreā€™s summer Elderhostel program, and was a frequent instructor in the UWW Inmate Higher Education Program. He retired in 1992.

Bill was survived by daughter Rebecca Brynteson Conner ā€™95, a son, a niece, and two nephews.