LELAND — Dr. Lawrence “Larry” Kessler, 84, died Monday, Aug. 10, 2020, from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was born May 15, 1936, in New York City, New York.
Dr. Kessler received a Ph.D. in History from University of Chicago and was awarded both a Fulbright and National Defense Fellowship to study in Taiwan.
His long and distinguished career as a professor of East Asian and Chinese history at UNC Chapel Hill began in 1966, where he taught for more than three decades. Among his scholarly publications was The Jiangyin Mission Station: An American Missionary Community in China, 1895-1951, focusing on the history of a Christian mission near Shanghai established by the First Presbyterian Church in Wilmington.
Dr. Kessler worked tirelessly to promote Asian Studies in the Southeast. He was a driving force in the creation of a major in Asian Studies at UNC and then an Asian Studies Department, where he was its first chair. Larry was a founding member of the Triangle East Asian Colloquium, which has sponsored conferences and presentations pertaining to East Asia for faculty members at universities and colleges. He organized and participated in outreach programs to help K-12 teachers incorporate material about Asia into their lesson plans.
He was among the first academics to visit China in 1976 as the People’s Republic began to welcome foreign visitors and then became the director of the North Carolina China Council. Dr. Kessler was elected president of the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies and served as editor-and-chief of the Southeast Review of Asian Studies.
In his free time, he enjoyed participating with an adult soccer league until the age of 70. His family is especially proud of his years of activism in the 1960s and 1970s, as a leader of faculty participating in anti-war activism, civil rights marches and supporting women’s rights. A good friend and faculty member at UNC summed it up, “Many, many others always admired him as a dedicated scholar, devoted teacher, engaged citizen and a warm and steady friend. He was a man of humor, intelligence and integrity.”
He is survived by his spouse, Bonnie Bechard; three children, Karen, Warren, and his wife, Traci, and Rob, and his wife, Kelly; stepchildren, Sean and Ben, and his wife, Michelle; sister, Mella; and six grandchildren, Taylor, Julian, Greyson, Cameron, Morgan and Lauren.
Family, friends and colleagues will be invited to a celebration of life after the pandemic is over.
Special thanks to the League of Women Voters of the Lower Cape Fear for their personal support during this difficult time.
Coastal Cremations is in charge of arrangements.
