Robert Durden, professor emeritus of history at Duke University, died March 4, 2016. He was 90.
Durden served as an ensign in the Navy in the Pacific theater during World War II. After the war, he returned to Emory University and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1946 and 1947. He then earned a Ph.D. in history from Princeton in 1952.
That same year, he began teaching American history at Duke. He remained a faculty member there for the next 49 years. He wrote many books, with The Dukes of Durham being the most noted. Fond of the Duke campus, he often walked to work.
Durden was predeceased by his wife, Anne, whom he had married in 1952. He is survived by two daughters; two granddaughters; and three great-grandsons. His favorite place was the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, where his ashes were placed next to those of his wife.
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