Benjamin Woods Labaree

Ben Labaree (elected October 1965) died August 30, 2021. Professor emeritus of history and environmental studies at Williams College, Labaree began his teaching career at Phillips Exeter Academy, joining Williams in 1963 as dean of the college. His scholarship focused on Revolutionary-era maritime history, beginning with Patriots and Partisans: The Merchants of Newburyport (1962) and culminating with the collaborative America and the Sea: A Maritime History (1998). As a pioneering public historian, he established partnerships that engaged students with the past far outside the formal classroom, launching the Ocean and Coastal Studies Semester of Williams College and Mystic Seaport Museum in 1977.