OBITUARY

Peter Seixas - 1947-2022

Noah Seixas

Peter Seixas died on October 9 at his home in Vancouver from complications from medullary thyroid cancer, which was first discovered in 2013.

He is survived by his loving wife of 42 years, Susan Cohen Inman; two daughters, Naomi of New York City and Mikaela of Vancouver; his sister Abby (Mark Horowitz) of Seattle; and brother Noah (Dana Standish) of Port Townsend, Washington, and many nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his parents: Frank A Seixas and Judith Sartorius Seixas.

Peter grew up in the New York suburb of Hastings-on-Hudson, graduated from Swarthmore College and left the US east coast for British Columbia in 1970. After three years in the bush outside of the mill town of Powell River, he started his education career as a social studies teacher in Vancouver. He earned an MA in the history of education from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1981 and a Ph.D. in US social history from UCLA (1988). In 1990, he became an assistant professor in the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Education, responsible for history and social studies education. A decade later, he was awarded the Faculty's first Canada Research Chair, enabling him to establish the Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness and the pan-Canadian Historical Thinking Project. He spearheaded the articulation of six concepts of historical thinking, which became the basis for history and social studies curriculum reform across Canada and internationally. His research was published widely in Canadian, American, and international journals. His contributions were recognised with election to fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and numerous research and teaching awards.

From the secondary social studies classroom, through the UBC teacher education program, to his signature graduate course, Problems in Historical Understanding, Peter inspired the many students he mentored. He lived a life consistent with his strong moral values, touching his many friends and acquaintances with his humanity, intellect, humour, and generosity.

Throughout his life, Peter was an avid tennis player and committed watercolourist. From childhood through retirement, he spent at least part of each summer at his family's house on the beach in East Hampton, New York, where he painted, swatted tennis balls, swam, bicycled, and jogged in the August sun.

Peter was, and his family are deeply grateful for the years of dedicated help from his oncologist, Dr. Janessa Laskin, and his nurse practitioner, Colleen Riley.