Thomas R. Meehan *52

Thomas R. Meehan, a dedicated and beloved history professor at Oregon State University, died Oct. 3, 2006. He was 87.

Meehan’s mother died after giving birth to him in 1919, a victim of the influenza epidemic. After Pearl Harbor, he left college to enlist in the Army. Assigned to the Signal Corps, 1st Cavalry, Meehan served more than three years, mostly in the Pacific, taking part in five beach landings and earning the Bronze Star (he modestly said the award was for “surviving . . . the fact I survived is why I got it”).

Once discharged, he earned both a bachelor’s (magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa) and a master’s in history from Rutgers. After a year of graduate study at Princeton, Meehan received a fellowship toward a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Upon completing his doctorate, he taught for five years at the Carnegie Institute. In 1962, he joined Oregon State University, where his U.S. history courses enjoyed very large enrollments, one even becoming a departmental institution. Meehan retired in 1987, with an annual teaching award established in his name.

He is survived by his wife, Margaret, whom he married in 1948.