Dear friends,
It is with deep sadness that I share the news that our distinguished colleague Thomas A. Brady, Peder Sather Professor Emeritus of History, passed away at home on Friday evening, March 7, 2025, at the age of 87.
A magisterial scholar of the social, political, and religious history of early modern Europe, Tom laid new foundations for his field through path-breaking books and dazzling articles across the decades. His special focus was the German Reformation, a domain in which his erudite scholarship repeatedly broke new ground. He was no less known for his wit and collegiality, his generous and open spirit, and his readiness to nurture the next generation in close partnership with his wife Kathy.
Tom was born in Columbia, Boone County, Missouri on November 23, 1937. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1959 and, following upon naval service as well as graduate studies at Columbia University, earned the Ph.D. in 1968 from the University of Chicago. Tom was appointed to the faculty of the University of Oregon in 1967 and rose through the ranks to become full professor of History and Religious Studies and President’s Distinguished Professor of the Humanities. Moving to the University of California, Berkeley in 1991, he served with distinction on the faculty of the Department of History and as affiliated faculty in Celtic Studies. He was awarded the Peder Sather Professorship of History in 2001 and retired in 2006.
Tom’s razor-sharp assessment of historical sources and his intrepid exploration of the archives, often together with Kathy, provided critical new impulses to his field methodologically and historiographically, placing him at the forefront of the profession. Beginning with his Ruling Class, Regime and Reformation at Strasbourg, 1520-1555 (1978), his memorable books include Turning Swiss: Cities and Empire, 1450-1550 (1985); Protestant Politics: Jacob Sturm (1489-1553) and the German Reformation (1995); The Politics of the German Reformation (1996); and his summa, German Histories in the Age of Reformation, 1400-1650 (2009). He contributed in many other ways to the foundations of early modern European history, including as co-editor of the two-volume Handbook of European History 1400-1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation (1994-95). He was the recipient of IREX, Fulbright, Guggenheim, and National Humanities Center fellowships and was named an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow twice and a Fellow of the Historisches Kolleg in Munich. Along with an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern, visiting professorships at the University of Arizona and the National University of Ireland (Galway), and many other awards and honors, Tom was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003.
Tom was broadly known as an engaged teacher and a mentor to doctoral students, including at other universities and the Graduate Theological Union as well as UC Berkeley. The Brady home was open to generations of graduate students from around the world, who became part of Tom and Kathy’s extended family and were nourished in all senses of the word. Both the American Historical Association (through its Nancy Roelker Mentorship Award, 2004) and the Sixteenth Century Society (through its inaugural Anne Lake Prescott Prize, 2023) recognized Tom’s contributions in supporting early-career scholars. In addition to instructing a wide range of classes and seminars in early modern European history, he was a dedicated teacher of modern Irish history and the history of modern Christianity.
Our thoughts go out to Kathy and their family in this time of sorrow.
In sadness,
Cathryn Carson