SARATOGA SPRINGS — Stuart K. Witt, Ph.D., professor emeritus at Skidmore College (1966-2002), passed away gracefully and with dignity at Saratoga Hospital the evening of Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, surrounded by his loving family when he took his last breath.
Stuart was born and raised by his parents, Joseph Witt and Norma Popp Witt, in Utica, NY. After graduating from Columbia University, getting his doctorate at Syracuse University, he moved to Albany to work for the government as a budget analyst. Shortly thereafter he discovered Saratoga Springs and decided to move his family as he felt it was an ideal place to raise his children. Stuart became an Associate Professor of Government at Skidmore College. In addition to him being a renowned academic scholar and critical thinker, he was revered in the classroom and in the community, where he played an activist role fighting against what he viewed as the encroachment of urban renewal on historic downtown Saratoga Springs. Deeply involved in local politics, Witt also was instrumental in the establishment of a food co-op, a civil rights organization, an Economic Opportunity Council and the legal aid society, and conducted a one-man campaign against police brutality, all while homeschooling his sons, John, Adam, and Stuart. He also participated in founding The Beagle School, an innovative preschool, which began operations in his home and continues educating young children today. Among its other lessons, Witt valued The Beagle School’s emphasis on leadership and sociability.
“Saratoga Springs inspired me, and I was a busy man,” he recalled in a biographical profile published in 2017’s Spring Issue of Saratoga Living magazine.
“In the time remaining,” Stuart resided in Schuylerville where he continued to be a colorful and charismatic man about town. He loved his moments spent on his back porch where he would effortlessly complete New York Times crossword puzzles. In addition, he enjoyed scenic back road drives to Saratoga Springs where he visited friends, family and a weekly Monday stop at The Parting Glass!
When Witt retired from Skidmore, his colleague, Ron Seyb, commented, “The term ‘learned’ has gone out of fashion in the academy, but I can think of no adjective that better characterizes Stuart Witt.”
Witt’s interests, Seyb observed for Skidmore’s Scope magazine, “have ranged far outside the field of political science, to include ethnography, art, literature, Jungian psychology, the history and culture of Latin America and the philosophical thought of the Arab world. He has read widely in and written extensively on all of these topics, compiling in the process a corpus of knowledge that has combined with his reflexive generosity to make him an extraordinary resource for both his students and his colleagues.” His most recent publication was Una Odisea Centroamericana (1861-1937), a translation of a memoir of a Nicaraguan revolutionary, Alejandro Miranda Moreno.
Those who have worked with Witt, Seyb said, “can readily cite works he has authored that influenced their thinking, conversations with him that afforded them insights into an abstruse topic, or canvasses of his voluminous files that elicited critical pieces of information.
Witt was particularly proud of his three sons, whom he described as “all artists in one way or another.” Adam and Stu are both artisanal bread bakers and John is a prolific home designer and contractor in the region.
In addition to his three sons, Witt leaves behind a wife, Cordelia Willis-Hall; grandchildren Aspen, Jacob, Sam, Nicholai, Emmy and Balasai; sibling Joseph; nieces and nephews; and a cadre of loyal friends and colleagues.
Services were held Thursday, February 14 at Burke & Bussing Funeral Homes located at 628 N Broadway, Saratoga Springs.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Dr. Stuart Witt’s honor to Saratoga Hospital, 211 Church St., Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.
For more information on Stuart K. Witt’s curriculum vitae, works and knowledge, please visit his blog: academics.skidmore.edu/blogs/stuartwitt.
Online remembrances may be made at burkefuneralhome.com.
