A memorial service for Joseph Finkelstein ’47, professor emeritus of history, economics and management, will be Sunday, May 27, at 2 p.m. in the gazebo behind the Reamer Campus Center in the gardens he adored.
In the event of rain, the service will be moved to the Schaffer Library’s Phi Beta Kappa Room. A reception will follow at Finklestein’s home in Schenectady.
Finkelstein, whose teaching career at Union spanned nearly five decades, died last Nov. 6.
“Joe will be remembered by his colleagues and students for his good humor, his high standards, his deep commitment to the College, and his spirited, collegial discussion of issues large and small,” said Therese McCarty, interim dean of faculty.
Finkelstein, a native of Troy, N.Y., majored in social studies at Union, and began teaching history classes a year before graduating. He went on to earn a master’s degree and doctoral degree from Harvard University in 1952. He did post-doctorate research under a Fulbright Fellowship at the London School of Economics, and later returned to Union in 1953, becoming a full professor 10 years later.
He specialized in economic history, in particular the interaction of technology and society. He was the author of The American Economy: From the Great Crash to the Third Industrial Revolution (1992). He edited a 1989 collection, Windows on a New World, that compared the inventions of the automobile and the silicon chip and their impacts on economic development. He also co-authored Economists and Society: The Development of Economic Thought from Aquinas to Keynes (1973).
At Union, he was instrumental in developing the Graduate Management Institute, now Union Graduate College. He lived in Japan for two terms as professor in residence at Kansai Gadai University. Among his many service contributions at Union, he was interim editor of the Union College Alumni Review and coordinator of student activities.
He retired in 1996, predicting in his usual dry wit, “I’m going to do exactly the same things I’ve been doing – except I won’t be teaching classes or going to meetings.”
Indeed, in retirement he remained a fixture on campus. He was a frequent participant at faculty meetings, where colleagues reveled in his institutional knowledge and his clever engagement of college officials, his voice rising in pitch as debate intensified. At one meeting, when then-President Roger Hull tried to conclude an exchange by saying, “Joe, we’ll have to agree to disagree,” Finkelstein shot back: “I would never agree to that!”
An avid gardener, he traveled to the world’s botanical destinations. He was known for raising rhododendrons and azaleas at his homes in Schenectady and Cape Cod. A certified master gardener, he was active in a number of gardening organizations and volunteered his expertise to other gardeners in the community.
An organizer of the Schenectady Museum, he served on the board of directors and as its president.
Survivors include his wife, Nadia Ehrlich; three children, Sharon Finkelstein of Schenectady; Jonathan Finkelstein of Lexington, Mass; and Neal Finkelstein of Oakland, Calif.; five grandchildren; and his brother, Morris Finkelstein, of Albany, N.Y..
His family held private services in Boston.