Read an interview with George Sheridan, close friend of Val and Madge Lorwin.

Val Lorwin Obituary

Val Lorwin was a historian and social scientist with an international reputation. He was also a man of rare charm, wit, and sensitivity.

Val Lorwin joined the faculty of the University of Oregon in 1957, one of a number of appointments in the middle and late fifties which greatly strengthened the scholarly mission of the University. He had recently completed a major study of the French labor movement, published by Harvard University Press. It remains a standard work in the field. As a member of the History Department Val taught courses in general European history, the history of France, European economic history, as well as seminars in comparative labor movements and the development of the European economic community. In his teaching, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Val established many close and enduring relationships, his students can be found on faculties of colleges and universities across the country.

Val was born July 21, 1907 in New York City. His father, Lewis Lorwin, was an economist and scholar active in international labor organizations. Following Val’s graduation from Cornell University, he gained a Masters degree at Ohio State and later returned to Cornell for his doctorate. In 1930 he married Madge–well known to many of you as a wonderful hostess, cook and gardener, and author of a beautiful book on Elizabethan cooking.

Val started a career with the federal government during the 1930’s serving as an economist under the National Recovery Act and later working for the departments of Labor and Agriculture. During World War II, like a number of the outstanding historians and social scientists of his generation, he served in the Office of Strategic Services. After the war he became an official in the State Department, with special responsibilities in the field of international labor. He also helped to lay the economic groundwork for the Marshall Plan. The Lorwins provided hospitality in these years for many of the European labor leaders who visited Washington.

In 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy named Val as #54 on his list of known communists serving in the government. For the next four years Val was a victim in one of the ugliest episodes in American history. During this period he was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury and accused of perjury in denying his Communist ties. Val bore this ordeal with courage and dignity and, I think, came through it without personal bitterness. Mr Lorwin was subsequently cleared when it was demonstrated that the evidence against him had consisted of lies used by a Justice Department lawyer.

In 1954 Val joined the Department of Industrial Relations at the University of Chicago, a position which he held until he came to the University of Oregon. During his years at Oregon Val wrote articles dealing with various aspects of European economic and political life, articles which have been much cited. Several have been anthologized. In the nineteen sixties he worked with a small and prestigious circle of social scientists in Europe and America who were engaged in a comparative study of the smaller democracies of Europe. Val’s own contribution to the study of Belgium was recognized in 1969 when the King of that country made him an “Officer of the Order of Leopold.” Val’s achievements as a scholar earned him many grants and fellowships including awards from the Social Science Research Council, the Center for Behavioral Studies at Stanford,the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, the Guggenheim, the Ford, and the Rockefeller foundations. He also served as a visiting professor at the Universities of Lyon, Cornell and Harvard.

Following his retirement from the University in 1973 Val continued his work as a scholar — bringing to that activity the passion for social justice which was one of this distinguishing characteristics of his life. He also served on the Eugene Women’s Commission, set up to promote affirmative action in this community. And he began a major collaborative study dealing with the role of women in the trade union movements of Western Europe. Just a few weeks before his death the book length manuscript was sent off to a publisher.

From the 1982 obituary of Val Lorwin written by UO history professor Stanley Pierson.