Rondo
Cameron, William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus, died
peacefully on New Year's morning, 2001, after a long illness.
Tom Burns, who has been in residence at the University of
Augsburg this year, composed the following tribute which
was read at the memorial service in Cannon Chapel on January
20.
Rondo Cameron was a man of great passion and determination,
whether it be in golf, tennis, or academics. He was among
the first of the world-class scholars attracted to Emory.
As my colleagues this year at the University of Augsburg,
Germany, reflected upon Rondo and the year that he and Clay
spent here as an exchange family, they spoke with one voice
of his unique ability to connect complex details into large
pictures of historical development. Like myself they asked,
"who but Rondo would have dared to write an economic history
of the WORLD in one volume? And who else could have done
so with such insight and clarity?"
Here in Germany as in Atlanta, Rondo was always ready to
give colleagues and students his counsel on economic issues
that they may have previously thought were problems peculiar
to their specialized fields. His patience in advising undergraduate
joint history-economics majors was truly extraordinary.
Graduate students too needed his special care, and until
his retirement he never ceased to give them a hand, occasionally
running bureaucratic obstacle courses on their behalf and
at other times serving on their committees.
By no means, however, are all my recollections academic,
indeed the most important ones are personal. "Rondo’s Sunday
Punch" was a legendary event back in the 70’s and early
80’s. It was a semi-formal event and probably was the only
time that faculty and spouses from various departments actually
met. Many interdisciplinary projects owed their origins
to those free and often loud discussions that revolved around
the punch bowl. Shortly before the second such occasion,
our daughter was born. Getting a babysitter on a Sunday
afternoon was no easier then than now. So we called Clay
and Rondo with our apologies, but they said, "bring her
along." The scene of our daughter, Clay Cameron, Blair Major,
and from time to time Rondo and other friends, sitting on
the floor playing with a five month old is forever etched
in our book of most cherished memories. Behind his sometimes
gruff exterior, Rondo had a very soft heart, and not only
for toddlers.
Today we honor our departed friend and colleague, Rondo
Cameron, for his passion for life, his dedication to scholarship
and teaching, and his love of family and friends. May all
his rounds be below par and his tennis swing find the smoothness
that it never quite had on the courts at Druid Hills and
Emory.
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