John A. Leopold

Jack was born on July 11, 1937, in the Bronx. When he was three years old his mother, Jean, died, and his father, John, joined the Navy. Jack was raised by his paternal grandmother, Bertha, a widow and emigrant from Austria-Hungary. They lived among aunts, uncles and cousins, in the Gas House District of New York. Jack's intellect and love of learning drove much of his life. Selected to attend high school in the Catholic Seminary, he was the first in his family to complete high school. He continued to earn successive scholarships enabling him to graduate from St. John’s University, and earn a doctorate in History from the Catholic University of America, where he met the woman who would become his wife, Maureen Welsh. Maureen and academics became the foundation of his life.

Early in their marriage and many times thereafter, Jack’s archival research took them to Europe where they lived mostly in Germany. His research focused on 20th Century Germany, but Jack performed primary research in multiple languages. His work also took him to The Netherlands and Israel to pursue Holocaust studies. As an academic, Jack made contributions to the historical record on the rise of fascism and Nazi Germany, including his book, Alfred Hugenberg: The Radical Nationalist Against the Weimar Republic, which was published by Yale University and awarded manuscript of the year by Phi Alpha Theta, the International History Honor Society. His other works were published in various peer reviewed journals. He received numerous grants and awards from institutions such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, the European Academy of Berlin, and Yale University.

Understanding that education had been his personal avenue to life beyond the tenements of New York City, Jack focused on his students and teaching more than his own publications. For four decades he worked as a professor at Western Connecticut State University, most of that time as the Chair of the History and Non-Western Cultures Departments. He advanced the University’s emphasis on the Humanities. He was proud to have worked with colleagues to develop minors in Religious Studies and African-American Studies, two areas he believed vital to a full understanding of America. He established the History Honor Society, and mentored 300 students to achieve that recognition. Among Jack’s most pioneering and popular courses was the History of New York City, an immersion class using the City’s neighborhoods as a classroom. His passion for education was contagious and he inspired many of his students to become teachers.

A fervent believer in universal human equality, Jack applied the lessons of history as tools to expel ignorance and prejudice. In 1963, he was one of the first white teachers at Washington, D.C.’s Dunbar High School, an all black school at the time. Appalled that he could not bring his students on a tour of the Nation’s Capital because of their skin color, Jack became active in the Civil Rights Movement and joined the NAACP, serving for a period as secretary of the Danbury, Connecticut chapter. He further demonstrated his commitment to the dignity of all by teaching Humanities courses to inmates of the Federal Correctional Institute in Danbury, and working in the prison ministry at the Garner Correctional Facility.

A lifelong Roman Catholic, Jack served as a lector and a Sunday school teacher when younger. More recently, he became an active member of The Voice of the Faithful, and wrote against increasing nationalism within the American Catholic Church. Jack never stopped believing in the Church as a source of social justice, and of personal peace, healing and salvation. He applied his faith and values as a volunteer and committed public servant. Jack was an elected member of the Danbury Charter Revision Committee, the Zoning Commission, and the Danbury Common Council. He supported establishment of the Dorothy Day Hospitality House where he volunteered until his health intervened. He also produced and hosted a local television series called, “Religion in the Community.”

Jack’s greatest commitment was to his family, who will continue to be inspired by his adventurous spirit, compassion, generosity, optimism, and strength. He was a loving husband of fifty years to Maureen, who survives him. An adoring father and grandfather, Jack will be deeply missed by his daughter, Kathryn, her husband, Kevin Pumiglia, and their children Luke, Elizabeth and Michael; by his son, John, his wife, Joann Petrini, and their two daughters, Teresa and Margaret; and by his son, David, his wife, Ashley Mattoon, and their children, Mary Louisa and Andrew. His love will also be remembered by countless brothers and sisters in law, nephews, nieces, cousins, friends, colleagues, students, and mentees.

Please share your condolences and memories through the Green Funeral Home in Danbury, CT. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Hord Foundation (http://www.hordfoundation.org). The Leopold family invites you to gather with them at Green’s Funeral Home, 52 Main St. Danbury, from 5-8pm on Friday, June 17th. All are also welcome to a funeral service at St. Gregory the Great Church, 85 Great Plain Rd. Danbury, on Saturday, June 18th 2016 at 11 am. Jack will be cremated and buried in St. Philomena’s Cemetery on Howe Island in the Thousand Islands, Ontario, where he and his family spent many joyous times.