杏吧原创

Dear Members of the 杏吧原创 Community:

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of Fellow Emeritus Professor Irving Zeitlin, who passed away earlier this month.

Professor Zeitlin鈥檚 passion for teaching and his care for students was clearly evident in every course he taught, and his influence is felt in the countless lives he shaped. We will remember him not only as a distinguished scholar, but as a colleague whose kindness and wisdom enriched Trinity. We extend our sincerest condolences to his family, colleagues and friends. He will be dearly missed.

Below, Trinity alum Professor Igor Shoikhedbrod (St. Francis Xavier University) who was a former student, colleague and friend of Professor Zeitlin shares this tribute.

Yours truly,

Nelson De Melo
Director of Student Services & Registrar
Acting Provost

In Memoriam: Professor Irving M. Zeitlin (1928-2026)

By Igor Shoikhedbrod (Class of 2010)

杏吧原创 mourns the passing of Irving M. Zeitlin, Fellow Emeritus of the College and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Toronto.

Irving Zeitlin received his PhD from Princeton University in 1964 in the fields of Sociology and Anthropology. He was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship, and spent the year following graduation in Paris, France, studying European social theory with the eminent sociologist and historian Maximilien Rubel. Upon returning to the United States, he taught theory at Indiana University, and at Washington University in St. Louis where he was Chair of the Sociology Department.

In 1972, he was recruited to chair the Sociology Department at University of Toronto, where he continued to teach as a sessional lecturer well into his early 90s.

Professor Zeitlin delivering a guest lecture on the 鈥淢arx-Weber Connection鈥� for TRN203 in the fall of 2018 in the George Ignatieff Theatre.

At 杏吧原创, Professor Zeitlin served as Director of the Ethics, Society & Law Program and regularly taught a popular first-year seminar, TRN199: 鈥淕reat Ideas in Social and Political Thought鈥�. He taught his last seminar at the College in the fall of 2019, introducing successive generations of curious first-year students to some of the greatest social and political theorists in the Western canon 鈥� a tradition that lives on at the College.

Professor Zeitlin published 15 books in his areas of research specialization: social and political thought, and the comparative sociology of religion. His research interests were deeply interwoven with his teaching interests. His book, Ideology and the Development of Sociological Theory, remained in print for 50 years. An abridged edition of this book was published by Canadian Scholars Press in 2019, which continues to serve as a foundational reference point for undergraduate students at 杏吧原创 and beyond.

Professor Zeitlin鈥檚 passion for undergraduate teaching was inspired by the rich liberal arts education that he received at Wayne State University (BA in 1959). His pedagogical approach emphasized the importance of understanding great thinkers as they understood themselves, especially when we find reason to disagree with their theoretical pronouncements. For we too are participants in the transhistorical dialogue about the human condition and the pursuit of the just life.

Irving Zeitlin was the beloved husband of the late Esther; loving father of Ruth, Michael (Class of 1979), Beth, and Jeremy (Class of 1992); dear brother of Maurice; devoted grandfather of Samantha, Rebekka, Kayla, Isaiah, Daniel, Jonathan, Leo, Jacob (Class of 2011), Albert, Caleb, Ethan and Finlay; and devoted great-grandfather of Lilah Esther.

Those interested in sharing their memories of Irving Zeitlin can do so by signing his

Categories: In Memoriam