Friends, faculty remember legacy of history professor

Tuesday, January 12, 1999

Friends, faculty remember legacy of history professor

OBITUARY: Renaissance art expert Albert Hoxie loved travel,
slide shows

By Brian Fishman

Daily Bruin Contributor

Albert Hoxie, the UCLA History professor who inspired Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar to pursue a history major, died Jan. 3, at the UCLA
Medical Center of complications from pneumonia. He was 86.

An expert on Renaissance art, Hoxie, who joined UCLA in 1950,
was renowned for his love of travel and teaching.

Upon his death, Hoxie bequeathed his extensive slide collection,
as well as his personal library, to the university.

According to his colleagues, this final gesture was indicative
of Hoxie’s teaching style. He often showed slides from his travels
to illustrate concepts in class to humanize history.

"He taught me that authentic history was not dry, lifeless facts
but rather the living legacies of real human beings," wrote
Abdul-Jabbar in his book, "Black Profiles in Courage."

The over 200,000 slides procured during Hoxie’s annual trips to
Europe often found their way into his lectures, explained Professor
Geoffrey Symcox. Such presentations were celebrated by his
students.

In addition, his lectures were tremendously popular with
students and Hoxie was often applauded at their conclusion, said
Symcox.

When on vacation Hoxie always stayed at the same hotels.

"The employees knew him. He was a regular," Symcox said. "He
liked to travel first class. He was from a more leisured, a more
civil, genteel age. Someone who insisted on the social
proprieties."

Symcox learned first hand the benefits of such slide-oriented
lectures. Returning home from abroad, Hoxie would often invite
friends and colleagues to view his slides.

"The sense I have of art history I owe principally to him and
those slide evenings," said Symcox.

In fact, Symcox had the opportunity to learn first hand of
Hoxie’s classroom presence, for he served as one of his teaching
assistants in the early ’60s.

"He walked into lecture with no notes. Then he lectured and
chain-smoked throughout. For him, lectures were a performance,"
Symcox said.

Reflecting this, Hoxie was awarded UCLA’s distinguished teaching
award in 1973.

Hoxie was a legitimate UCLA institution, said Harlan Lebo, UCLA
spokesperson.

Largely uninterested in research, Hoxie concentrated almost
exclusively on his students.

Having worked as a Hollywood agent in the 1950s, Hoxie stumbled
into a job at UCLA even though he had no doctoral degree. Invited
by friends to lecture, Hoxie casually slipped into a full-time
position, Symcox explained.

Hoxie was unconventional in several ways. Born of a wealthy
family, he lived in the same house for 70 years and was deeply
unreligious.

"He didn’t have time for religion. And he occasionally said rude
things about Luther and Calvin," Symcox said.

Hoxie’s love for Renaissance art and architecture blossomed
while stationed in Italy by the U.S. Army Air Corps. This love was
later translated to his students.

"He lectured about the things he loved and so when he talked
about these things, he talked with a deep understanding and
enthusiasm," Symcox said.

Born on April 22, 1912, in Adrian, Mich., Hoxie moved to Beverly
Hills in 1929. He received his bachelor of arts degree from
Stanford in 1935 and his master’s degree from the University of
Wisconsin in 1936.

According to Symcox, his legacy will live on.

"He has left an incredible following of people," said Symcox.
UCLA history department

Albert Hoxie, professor of history, died Jan. 3 at the age of
86.

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