Theodore Von Hermann Laue ’39 *44
After a brief illness, Theo died on Jan. 22, 2000, in Worcester, Mass., where, until he retired in 1983, he had been teaching at Clark U. He earned his PhD in history at Princeton and taught there for a year, then moved on to the U. of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, the U. of California, and finally Clark.
An immigrant from Germany, Theo arrived on campus in the fall of 1937. He credited Princeton with giving him an excellent introduction to the best qualities of American life at the peak of American influence in the world. He especially remembered the kindness he encountered in the history department. He always felt being a self-styled immigrant outsider gave him a unique insight into the dynamics of contemporary world events. This perspective he fully expounded in his major book, The World Revolution of Westernization, published in 1988. A member of the Society of Friends, he worked in various aspects of the peace movement, particularly in organizations dedicated to the improvement of US/USSR relations.
Theo is survived by his wife, Angela Turner Von Laue, two daughters from his first marriage, Madeleine and Esther, and one grandchild. We offer them our sincere sympathy.
The Class of 1939
Paw in print
November 2025
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Harold Kulungian
6 Months AgoMemories from a Clark University Friend and Colleague
I enjoyed Theo’s friendship during 1972-74 while a graduate student at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he had recently come with appointment as chairman of the history department. Especially keen remains the moment I first saw Theo in his office upon his return in 1974 from his second Guggenheim Fellowship, spent mainly in the British Museum Library in London, where his nemesis Karl Marx had also worked more than a century before him, and where he apparently took a liking for a young English librarian who brought him the books he needed. Theo broke the news to me by announcing, “Harold, I have met a fine young English woman. She has agreed to be my research assistant, my secretary, and my wife.” The end of the story was that Theo very much enjoyed his second marriage, which was of a quarter century duration, with a quarter century younger spouse, with no children, but with many years of vigorous hiking in the Cotswolds, the Dolomites, and elsewhere. Theo died in 2000 and Angela, who gave Theo a renewed lease on life, continues to cherish their years together, while she also continues to update the history textbook on Russia that they wrote together.