In Memoriam: Eric Wittenberg
It was a bittersweet day for us at Emerging Civil War on Saturday. We learned of the death of our longtime friend and ECW alumnus Eric Wittenberg on Saturday afternoon even as our 11th Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium was underway. Placards on each table offered participants the opportunity to contribute to a GoFundMe page to help defray the costs of Eric’s medical bills following the news that he had entered hospice care earlier in the week. For the past two years, Eric, 64, had battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Eric keynoted our very first Emerging Civil War Symposium in 2014. We were thrilled to have a “name” historian speak at our inaugural event. Ever after, Eric remained a good friend to Emerging Civil War, eventually becoming a regular contributor. Even after his many other obligations forced him to scale back his regular participation with the blog, he continued to participate in special ECW projects.
We’ll offer a tribute to Eric later this week. In the meantime, please keep his wife, Susan, in your thoughts. If you would like to contribute to the GoFundMe effort, you can do so here.
Such a huge loss . I have so many of Eric’s books. He made a great contribution to history. Condolence’s to Eric’s family.
Sincerest thanks to all of you. Eric certainly enjoyed the ECW Symposiums and school. He was a good friend and man to so many of us and as such will be missed.
So sad to hear about the loss of Eric Wittenberg. I had a chance to meet him in person, what a wonderful person and historian. My condolences to Susan and all of his many friends.
So sad to hear of this. I did some research for him years ago, and he was always supportive of my efforts. A very sad day for the Civil War Community.
Such a tragic loss in so many ways. Eric will be missed greatly.
A great many of us had the fortune to see the non-Civil War side of Eric. That sometimes blunt, gruff exterior was a thin cover for the “real” Eric we got to know. He was a a great guy in addition to being a great historian. The battle he fought the past couple of years would have made “his guy” John Buford proud.
Being a Columbus resident and a member of the Central Ohio CWRT, as well as having a mutual friend, I’ve been fortunate enough to be in several private tours he led in Ohio and east. Plus he was a fellow Philadelphia sports fan and loved Waffle House. It was always great to run into him. There will be none like him again.