Died November 30, 2001
College: Berkeley
Widow: Ms. Linda Clark
Unit 101
551 Milton Court
Long Beach, CA 90803-6352
LClark2@csulb.edu
Children: Jonathan, 1964; Suzanne, 1967
Edgar Leon (Ned) Newman, born in New Orleans on January 21, 1939, died
in Baltimore on November 30, 2001, losing a battle with multiple
myeloma.
After graduating from Yale Ned went on to the University of Chicago,
where he received a Ph.D. in Modern French and European History in 1969.
He spent his teaching career in the history department of New Mexico
State University in Las Cruces, but he particularly relished his many
trips to Paris for research and, after libraries and archives closed,
trying out restaurants. In 1974 he cofounded the Western Society for
French History, which held its 38th meeting in 2010 and now honors him
with an annual Newman lecture. Ned published many articles in major
historical journals in the United States and France (such as the JOURNAL
OF MODERN HISTORY and ANNALES HISTORIQUES DE LA REVOLULTION FRANCAISE),
edited the two-volume HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF FRANCE FROM THE 1815
RESTORATION TO THE SECOND EMPIRE (Greenwood Press, 1987), and many
numerous presentations at historical conferences. At the time of his
death he had nearly completed a book manuscript on French Worker Poets
1830-1852, and he often said that contact with those voices from the
past somewhat compensated for the fact that cancer treatments limited
his social contacts. Yale classmate Dr. Crosson O’Donovan kindly paid
many visits to his hospital room during the final weeks of his life, and
other classmates, including Jon Farnum and Scott Merritt, phoned to
cheer him up.
Ned is survived by his wife and fellow French historian Linda Clark, two
children from his previous marriage, Jon and Suzanne, and his stepmother
Colette Newman. After his death family and friends gathered at
Galatoire’s Restaurant in New Orleans to remember Ned, his wit, and his
smile.
—by Linda Clark