Seymour Mandelbaum, professor emeritus of urban history at the University of Pennsylvania, died Jan. 23, 2013, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 77.
Mandelbaum graduated from Columbia in 1956, and earned a Ph.D. in history from Princeton in 1962. His dissertation on New York City in the 1870s led to his book, Boss Tweed’s New York. After teaching at Carnegie Institute of Technology and Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication, he joined Penn’s School of Design as a professor in 1967. In addition to urban history, he taught planning theory, communication policy and planning, and community design.
Eugenie L. Birch, Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research at Penn, said, “He was a legend in the department because of this role he played. ... He wanted to know the moral, social, economic, and political implications. He made a lasting mark on those students.”
In addition to serving on the editorial boards of five journals, Mandelbaum was the volume editor of Explorations in Planning Theory. He became emeritus in 2004.
He is survived by his wife, Dr. Dorothy Rosenthal Mandelbaum, whom he met when they were 18-year-old camp counselors; three children; and six grandchildren.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.