We are deeply saddened to share that Joe Elder passed away in Madison. Those who have known Joe know what a deep loss this is for our community. As Eric Grodsky stated, “You’d be hard pressed to find a truer moral compass than Joe and his late wife Joann, nor a pair of humans who lived their values more fully.” Joe’s full obituary is here.
Joe Elder was a Professor of Sociology, Asian Languages and Cultures, and Integrated Liberal Studies during his 53-year career at UW-Madison. He helped create UW-Madison’s study abroad programs to India and Nepal and a certificate program for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies. Joe was beloved by the students he taught, and he received numerous teaching awards. In addition, he established a global reputation in the field of international studies.
Born to Presbyterian missionaries in the Kurdish region of Iran, Joe was raised in Tehran during the Great Depression and World War II. As a college student in the Korean War era, his antiwar sentiments led him to become a Quaker.
He traveled twice to Hanoi in the most difficult years of the Vietnam War to examine the needs of North Vietnamese civilians for medical supplies. Those journeys, on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee, made him a respected source of honest information and a conduit for exchange of messages between citizens and officials on both sides of the conflict.
A seven hour interview with Joe is preserved as a part of the UW-Madison Oral History Project, in which he discusses his childhood, education at Oberlin College, teaching in India, work in many departments at UW-Madison, advocacy for LGBTQ+ issues, and more.
The late Erik Olin Wright called Joe the “moral conscience” of the department. “Joe Elder has always been a model for me of how deep moral concerns for peace and social justice can be fully integrated into academic life,” Wright once said.
His memorial will be on Saturday, June 21 at 11 AM, at the First Unitarian Meeting House, 900 University Bay Drive. This will be livestreamed and recorded to watch at a later date as well.