It is with considerable sadness that we share the news that Fulbright alumni Dr. Robert Jarrett Rudy has passed away. He was a scholar, a champion of and for Quebec, and a dedicated teacher. He will be sorely missed.
Hailing from a small town called Tavistock in south-western Ontario, Robert Jarrett Rudy really came into his own when he arrived at McGill University as a graduate student in the Department of History. Jarrett would come to regard Québec as his inspiration, his home, his intellectual passion, and his calling. He would meet and marry Cynthia Kelly, the love of his life. He would embrace the challenges of Québec with all of his considerable talents.
As the Fulbright Canada Distinguished Chair in Québec Studies at SUNY Plattsburgh, he left a lasting impression on his hosts and his host community. The director of the Center for the Study of Canada and Institute on Québec Studies at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh, Dr. Christopher Kirkey, describes Jarrett as an inspiring colleague and a dear friend, “Jarrett undertook what would prove to be a highly original and imaginative research project, focusing on the question of time, The Standardization of Time on the Quebec-New York Border: Modernity, the Law, and Local Convention, 1883-1974. The research led to a scholarly article in the Canadian Historical Review and the article was, in turn, selected by an award-winning committee as the very best work to have appeared in the journal that year.” Dr. Christopher Kirkey further notes that “When we can, hopefully sooner than later, gather as a community of teachers and scholars at the Center, we will recognize the life of Jarrett Rudy. He will always live in the hearts and minds of those who knew him. He was an exceptional human being, who brightened each day with his beautiful smile and caring disposition.”
He was a cherished member of the Fulbright Canada alumni community and a member of an informal working group whose mission is to create opportunities for collaboration between Fulbright Canada, SUNY Plattsburgh, École nationale d'administration publique, McGill University, and others.
Dr. Michael Hawes, CEO Fulbright Canada, was privileged to know Jarrett as both a friend and as a colleague, “He was one of our alumni, as the Fulbright Distinguished Chair at SUNY Plattsburgh in 2014, but also a friend. A man of very significant intellectual capabilities, but, even more so, a man of passion, vision, and heart. So tragic that, in the end, it was his heart that would be his undoing. I will never forget a few days that we spent in San Francisco where he reminded me over and over again of his passion and his concern for the future of Québec, while, at the same time, being both fun and mischievous. He was, and will always be, a scholar, a son of Québec, and an inspiration for all of us who need to be reminded that some things just matter. His memory will endure, his commitment should be emulated, and his spirit should be celebrated.”