[Emeritiassoc] Edward Baum

[Tuck, Martin]

Dear Emeriti,
It is with sadness that I report the passing of Emeriti Association Past President Edward (Ed) Baum.  Ed,  Professor Emeritus in Political Science, passed away last Saturday at his home in Lexington Virginia which he shared with Anita James Associate Professor Emerita of Communication Studies.
As many of you know, Ed served the OU Emeriti Association as President, Treasurer and Past President on the association board. He also maintained a connection and supported the association after his move to Virginia.
While a resident of Athens, Ed was extremely involved in the community and was awarded the Jaycees Outstanding Senior award in 2019. Emeriti Claudia Hale provided me with a short bio (found below) from a speech when Ed accepted the award, which highlights some of Ed's numerous accomplishments. I thought you may be interested in this bio of Ed.
He will be greatly missed.
Marty
                        Edward Baum
Born in New York City and quickly transplanted to Los Angeles, Edward arrived in Athens in 1964 as a newly minted Ph.D., joining the faculty of the Department of Political Science at Ohio University. As many of you know, in academics, service to the community often emerges from scholarly activities and interests. Within a year of his arrival, Edward was in Kano, Nigeria, as a member of the Ohio University USAID faculty at the Advanced Teachers College-Kano. He spent four years working with others to train teachers for high schools in northern Nigeria.
Back home, Edward’s civic involvement flowered in the early 1980s when he joined the Morning Kiwanis Club. That was a stepping stone to building (with Ray Wagner and Ted Kohan) the Athens Civitan Club where, in 1985, he served as Charter President. That was followed by service as the Governor of the Ohio District in 1991-1992; he represented Ohio and the mid-Atlantic coast on the Civitan International Board of Directors from 1999-2001, and was elected International President for 2005-2006.
Teaching public administration brought Edward to local government, where he was elected four times as Athens City Council Member-at-Large (1996-2003). He served on the Athens Strategic Planning Commission from 1998-2003, chairing it from 1998-2001. From 2013 until very recently, Edward was a member of the Athens City Board of Zoning Appeals.
As an early retiree from OU, Edward became active in the O.U. Emeriti Association. He served eight and a half years on the Executive Board, three of which were as president, two as immediate past president, and three and a half as treasurer.
In the broader community, for thirteen years Edward volunteered at the office of Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio, preparing and sending out the weekly updates and maintaining volunteer records. He was a charter member of The Athens Village, eventually serving on the board for six years and as president for three years.
The roles highlighted thus far encouraged intellectual activity but remaining physically active is also on Edward’s agenda. He founded the Southeast Ohio Chair Volleyball Tournament in 2003 and directed it until 2018. He was an advisory board member of the OhioHealth-O’Bleness Hospital’s SeniorBEAT program for twelve years and an exercise instructor in the program for fifteen years. So, as Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore opined, “I slept and dreamt that life was joy; I awoke and found that life was service. I acted, and behold, service was joy.
Martin T. Tuck, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Dean Emeritus

Ohio University

tuck at ohio.edu


"If I were giving a young man advice as to how he might succeed in life, I would say to him, pick out a good father and mother, and begin life in Ohio.

                                                                         ~Wilbur Wright
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