Edward Gordon Gray

Edward G. Gray, outstanding husband, father, son, brother, historian and human being died unexpectedly Dec. 22, 2023, in Tallahassee from a heart attack while mountain biking with a close friend. He was 59.

Edward Gordon Gray was born Sept. 1, 1964, in Chicago. The second of Sue and Melvin Gray’s three sons, Edward grew up in suburban South Chicago as a part of a loving family. As a child he enjoyed building models and playing team sports. He was proud to say the first full book he read in the 4th grade was a biography of Chicago sports legend Dick Butkus. Edward started working at his family’s construction company at the age of 13, where he bonded with carpenters and mechanics, an affiliation that continued throughout his adult life. It was as a teenager that he also developed his polymathic tastes in music, ranging from Stravinsky to Steely Dan. (In an alternate version of Edward’s life, he would happily have run a second-hand record store, and the playlists he curated on Spotify continue to be a source of delight and communion to friends near and far.)

He attended the University of Denver and graduated in 1988 from the University of Chicago with a bachelors’ degree in history. Hyde Park’s Seminary Coop bookstore nourished his growing voraciousness as a reader, which continued all his life. A budding intellectual, yet without an ounce of pretension, Edward embarked on doctoral studies in early American history at Brown University in 1989, studying under historians Norman Fiering and Gordon S. Wood. It was also at Brown that he met, in 1991, the great love of his life, Stacey Allison Rutledge, then a graduate student in Brown’s Masters of Arts in Teaching program. They married in 1997, and recently celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary. Their daughter Sophie was born in 1999, the year they moved to Tallahassee for Edward’s faculty position at Florida State University. Their son Tobias followed in 2003.

A cultural historian of great range and distinction, Edward spent most of his teaching career at FSU, where he began as assistant professor and rose to the rank of full professor and department chair. A committed teacher of students at every level, he was also a highly original and curiosity-driven researcher, a dedicated collaborator, and a prolific author. He published four major books, each of which forged a new path in his field of early American history: NEW WORLD BABEL (1999), THE MAKING OF JOHN LEDYARD (2007), TOM PAINE’S IRON BRIDGE (2016), and the highly-acclaimed MASON-DIXON: CRUCIBLE OF THE NATION (2023), issued shortly before his death. His research was supported by multiple fellowships, most recently from the American Philosophical Society and the National Endowment of the Humanities, in its prestigious Public Scholars program. He was also the co-editor of the authoritative OXFORD HANDBOOK OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (2013), and the editor of COMMON-PLACE, a pioneering online journal of early American culture. At his death, he had begun work on two other books, and had floated the idea of writing an original musical about Three Mile Island, for which he was spectacularly unqualified and equally enthusiastic.

A man in full, Edward was a loving and constant husband, a fiercely committed father, a loyal and loving son, and an inspired and dedicated friend. Stacey and Edward made their house a home and hub for many friends and neighbors. He was the kind of man who cooked homemade meals for his dog and latkes for his friends, followed all manner of professional sports and went regularly to Pilates classes. He enjoyed riding his mountain bike with friends and stopping at the pub after for a cold beer. Over the years, he taught himself the five-finger banjo, valiantly attempted the Russian language, and relentlessly strove to perfect his middling tennis game. His generosity and curiosity knew no bounds.

Edward is survived by his wife Stacey Rutledge; children Sophie and Tobias Gray; parents Melvin and Sue Gray; brothers Steven (Chandra); Matthew (Leslie); mother-in-law Christine Bosworth; father-in-law William Rutledge IV (Silvia); brother-in-law William Rutledge V (Katy) and sister-in-law Allison Bosworth (Andre), as well as 10 nieces and nephews and a sprawling network of cousins. Services were held Dec. 29, 2023, in Tallahassee at Temple Israel.

Edward will be dearly missed by his family and many close friends around the world, from Tallahassee to Shizuoka. In lieu of customary remembrances, please consider a donation to Second Harvest of the Big Bend.