DONALD WEINSTEIN, 89, died of a aortal aneurysm Sunday, December 13 while at Peppi’s House in hospice care in Tucson. Donald grew up in Rochester, New York, born to immigrant parents who came to America in the early 20th century to escape the persecution of Jews in middle Europe and Russia. In 1944, at the age of 18, he volunteered to serve in the US Army, and was sent to fight with the 4th Division as a replacement at the end of the Battle of the Bulge in early 1945. He won a Bronze Star for bravery.
With the help of the GI Bill, he attended the University of Chicago and completed his BA and an MA in history. It was a place of tremendous intellectual excitement and was, he always said, the only real education he ever had.
He went to the University of Iowa for his PhD. In 1953 he won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Italy. From his two years of study there, he focused his academic work on the Italian Renaissance. During that time in Italy, he married his first wife, Anne Kingsley. They had two children.
After several academic postings, he was offered a job at Rutgers where he remained for 18 years and was eventually made Distinguished Professor. He met his second wife, Beverly Parker, at the Rutgers Library.
His last academic position was as head of the Department of History at the University of Arizona. There he recruited rising young scholars and developed innovative programs that involved community outreach such as night courses at Fort Huachuca. The department under his tenure was voted the most improved in the country. He was always available to younger scholars, advising them, discussing their ideas, editing their speeches, papers, books, helping them to find jobs.
After he retired in 1996, the couple moved to Sonoita where Don was immediately swept up in the Crossroads Forum and the development of an area plan, but the main focus of his energies was the fight against the open pit copper mine. He was one of the founders of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas. He was also a dispatcher for the fire department kept writing and translating. His great effort was a “magisterial” account of the Renaissance prophet, Savonarola, commissioned by Yale University.
He is survived by his wife and two children, Jonathan and Elizabeth Weinstein, as well as four grandchildren, Anna, Lydia, David and Nathaniel.
There will be a celebration in the spring. Meantime anyone who would like to make a donation in his memory should consider Save the Scenic Santa Ritas (online at scenicsantaritas.org or 8987 E. Tanque Verde #309-157 Tucson 85740) or The Patagonia Regional Community Foundation scholarship fund. (PO Box 764 Patagonia 85624). This place and the friends he made here enriched his last years.