UM News

Eugene Rothman

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (October 2, 2015) — No job was ever too difficult for Eugene Rothman. During his ten-year stint as a senior fellow at the University of Miami’s Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, he worked tirelessly on some of the center’s most demanding projects—from a Holocaust Survivor Support Internship Program to a Study Abroad initiative in Israel on the theme of Jewish peoplehood to the development of new courses for UM’s Judaic studies program.

“He was a most creative, entrepreneurial, and honest academic,” said Miller Center director Haim Shaked. “He was kindhearted and a giver.”

Rothman, who touched the lives of countless students, faculty, and administrators during an academic career that spanned more than five decades, passed away on Saturday, September 26. He was 73.

“A great mentor, a highly respected colleague, and a dear friend of the college” is how Leonidas Bachas, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, described Rothman.

In addition to his role as senior fellow at the Miller Center, Rothman served as associate director of academic development for the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies.

At the Miller Center, Rothman was responsible for research and innovative academic programs. In this capacity, he coordinated the Holocaust Survivors Support Internship Program, with 50 plus interns each semester, and served as the executive director of UM’s Semester in Israel, UGalilee. He also has served as co-director of the Lower Jordan Valley Initiative and chaired annual meetings of the Jordan Valley Mayors’ Forum. He chaired the Nobel Laureates’ Working Group (of the Petra Conference) on the Environment in the Middle East, an investigator of the Interdisciplinary Project on Vector-Borne Disease in the Middle East; and was an investigator for the Department of Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness in Miami-Dade Project.

Rothman worked as a translator, editor, and journalist in Israel and the United States, was the founding academic director of the Canada-Israel Foundation for Academic Exchanges, and, for over 30 years, was a professor at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, heading the Jewish and Middle East Studies program at its College of the Humanities.

Rothman authored and co-authored eight books, and served as a consultant to numerous levels of government, international agencies, and nongovernmental organizations within the areas of policymaking and peace-building initiatives.

He is survived by his wife, Beatrice, four children, and many grandchildren.