History professor's life honored

At a somber service Aug. 27, former UNM professor Ferenc “Frank” Szasz’s life and achievements were honored. The ceremony featured a bagpiper and a recitation of “Auld Lang Syne.”
Szasz, 70, died June 20.

Richard Etulain, professor emeritus in history at UNM, said Szasz was an asset to the University community.
“I knew him as a superb teacher, prolific writer and first-grade departmental citizen. He also practiced peacefulness and kindness,” he said. “What Doris Kearns Goodwin says about Szasz’s hero, Abraham Lincoln, was true of Frank. He was a man of golden character.”

Szasz taught history at UNM for 43 years, during which he educated more than 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students, according to his wife Margaret Connell-Szasz.

Throughout his career, Szasz wrote eight books, edited and coedited four and published nearly 90 articles. In 1985, he received the “Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award.” His scholarship ranged from a wide variety of topics including the atomic bomb, Abraham Lincoln and comic books. His most successful book was The Day the Sun Rose Twice: The story of the Trinity Site nuclear explosion. Friends and colleagues remembered Szasz for his sense of humor and compassion.

“There was the story of him reading manuscripts to his rabbit in the backyard,” Etulain said. “When some unkind predator snatched away his lop-eared companion, Frank confessed his style deteriorated noticeably.”

At one point during the ceremony, Richard Robbins, a friend and colleague, read a student’s evaluation form from 1971, the first year UNM implemented faculty evaluations.

In it, the student summarized one of Szasz’s typical classes, noting his comedic nature and ability to weave a compelling lecture.

“Above all, Szasz was rational and someone people could confide in,” Robbins said.
“He was the embodiment of common sense in the midst of people who are frequently senseless…He was the voice of sanity in the mildly insane world of academe.”

John Wunder, a history and journalism professor at the University of Nebraska, said Szasz’s peers will remember his altruism most of all.

“Frank Szasz was, to his very core, a deeply kind man,” Wunder said.
Following the service, a reception was held in the history department commons room of Mesa Vista Hall, where friends and colleagues held a fundraiser for the Szasz’s Ph.D. Dissertation Fellowship. The fund is a part of the UNM Foundation and aids graduate students studying history who require financial assistance. The fundraiser is ongoing and contributions from the reception will be counted later this week.

Robbins said Szasz was committed to helping students any way he could.
“Frank was first and foremost a teacher. Teaching is a very hard thing to capture because it’s like a concert,” Robbins said. “You hear it, and it passes. But once in a while, you find a document which holds true in time, like Frank’s teaching.”