December 19th, 1938-January 25th, 2020
This is an announcement we never wanted to have to make, especially since he usually wrote the opening piece of the newsletter, but Jack died peacefully at home on January 25th. We know he was a big part of many of your reading lives and his opinion has informed a great many bookshelves across Winnipeg and beyond.
There will be a public memorial service on Saturday, February 15th at 11am at St. George’s Church Anglican Church Crescentwood (168 Wilton Street at Grosvenor Avenue). The store will be opening at 1pm as a result. We will also be hosting a drop-in at Whodunit on Sunday, February 16th from 4pm-6pm for those customers who would like to share their remembrances of Jack. All are welcome at both events.
JOHN MICHAEL BUMSTED
(originally published in the Winnipeg Free Press)
It is with profound sadness that the family of Professor Jack Bumsted announces his death, quietly and peacefully at home, on January 25, 2020.
Jack was born in White Plains, New York, December 12, 1938. He received his BA (Hons) summa cum laude from Tufts College in 1959. He received his PhD from Brown University in 1965. As a professor, he taught at a number of universities, including Simon Fraser, where he was on the founding faculty, as well as McMaster, and University of Edinburgh, before joining the faculty of St. John's College at the University of Manitoba in 1980, where he would finish his career in 2007. During his time at the University of Manitoba, he held a number of administrative positions, including Dean of Studies of St. John's College, and Director of the Institute of the Humanities. His academic career took him across the country and the world, including Germany, Japan, India, Britain, and the United States of America.
The author of over 30 academic and popular books on Canadian history, as well as numerous pamphlets, articles, and papers, Jack received many honours for his work. He was named to the Royal Society of Canada in 2003. The academic interest in Lord Selkirk, that originally brought him to Manitoba, resulted in the publication in 2008 of Lord Selkirk: A Life, which received a number of awards, including the Leila-Commons Award, the Alexander Isbister Award, and the JW Dafoe Book Prize.
Jack was an active member of his community, involved in his church, his children's sporting activities, and a regular speaker at community gatherings on a range of topics. Jack loved crime fiction, popular music, sports (particularly the Red Sox and the Patriots), and spending time with his family. His love of books led him to a second career as a bookseller, and proprietor of the Whodunit Bookshop on Lilac Street, where he was often to be found, and always available to offer advice on any topic.
Jack, predeceased by his son, Jonathan; is survived by his wife, Wendy; his children, Carla, Geraint, Hannah, Sian, and Michael; and his grandchildren, Jeremy, Thomas, Oliver, Joenna, Henry, Lily, Bram, and Penelope.
The family would like to acknowledge the effort and care of his home care workers and nurses, particularly Manuel, Abdul, Raoul, Henry, and Senya, who provided tremendous help to him in his later life.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in his name, to St. John's College (92 Dysart Road), to endow a scholarship for Indigenous scholars of history, or to the Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre (WASAC).