Stephen Christopher Vella ’97

On Jan. 30, 2010, the class lost our friend and classmate Stephen Vella to cancer. He was 34.

Stephen was a historian of Britain and her empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. He studied at Royal Holloway, University of London (2002 to 2004), and received his Ph.D. from Yale in 2007. His dissertation, “Gentlemanly Conquerors: The Domestication of the Colonial Indian Frontier and the Refashioning of British Imperial Identity, 1790-1850,” won Yale’s John Addison Porter Prize for the most distinguished dissertation of the year. He was proficient in Bengali, French, Italian, and Spanish.

Stephen taught at Wake Forest University, where he was assistant professor of history before the final stages of his illness required him to take a sabbatical.  

His keen intellect and playful wit made him the most charming of companions, but it was his kindness, generosity of spirit, acute sense of justice, and zest for life that most endeared him to his friends. He is survived by his parents, Ann and James, and a sister, Susan Vantuyn.

Contributions in Stephen’s memory may be made to Oxfam America. The class extends its deepest sympathy to his family — Stephen will be greatly missed.