David Bird Ralston

David Bird Ralston, 87, died of pneumonia on 22 January 2017 at the Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Florida. A resident of Sarasota since 1998, he had been residing at the Pines of Sarasota Nursing Home and prior to that at Plymouth Harbor. A professor at MIT from 1964 until his retirement in 1997, Professor Ralston specialized in French military history and wrote several books including Soldiers and States, Revolution: A Reader, and Importing the European Army, focused on ways in which adopting a European-style army led non-European countries to also transform European-style political systems and even cultures. Ralston taught at MIT and Harvard, and spent sabbaticals at the Newport Naval War College and National University of Singapore. While carrying out research he also spent extended periods, accompanied by his family, living in Paris, Delhi and Stockholm. Professor Ralston was born in New York City on December 25, 1929. He attended public school in Trenton, NJ, followed by Lawrenceville, Rugby (where he discovered a lifelong love of the game and of Europe), and Yale. After serving in the Korean War, Ralston attended the University of Grenoble in France and received his PhD in history from Columbia University. He loved teaching and was a popular instructor in the department of humanities at MIT. He also enjoyed old movies, the French Third Republic, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean and being a father, which he often described as his greatest gift. Upon retiring and moving to Sarasota, Ralston took a volunteer position at the Resurrection House day shelter, where he spent close to a decade on laundry duty. Professor Ralston, who is predeceased by his wife Catherine Hunt, is survived by his children, James Erik of Cambridge and Johanna Ralston Lamb of Geneva, Switzerland, and their mother, Birgitta Ralston of Cambridge; grandsons Anders and Matthias Lamb of Geneva; stepdaughter Sarah Graving of California; son-in- law Michael Lamb of Geneva; sister Elizabeth Dill of New Jersey; nieces Mary Dill, Suzanne Aunspach and Virginia Bechtel, and nephew Richard Dill. He is also predeceased brother and sister-in-law Philip and Margaret Ralston, brother-in-law Richard Dill, and stepson Daniel Graving. A small interment ceremony will take place on 28 February at St. Boniface Church in Sarasota at 1 PM. A memorial celebration of his life will take place at a later date in Boston. In lieu of flowers please send donations to Resurrection House in Sarasota or Harvard Square Homeless Shelter c/o University Lutheran, Cambridge, Mass.