Deceased December 2020
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In Memory
Christopher Rhines, class of 1961, passed away in Annapolis, Maryland, after a short bout with pneumonia, at the end of December 2020. He was keen about Amherst: classmates, mentors, and sports. What particularly excited him was the history faculty (especially the recently arrived Henry Steele Commager) which set in motion his lifelong love of politics, history, and political science, often carried out through intense argumentation. Later, in grad school at Johns Hopkins, Chris focused his Ph.D. on the French Revolution. He had a long career teaching an increasingly expanded view of political history. Music was big in his life...while at Amherst, he DJed at both the College radio station and a local commercial station and rubbed elbows with the remarkable Modern Jazz generation of performers. His love of opera music led him to be a founder and manager of the Annapolis Opera, where he oversaw 27 performances, encouraged and befriended singers from New York as well as locally. After college, he converted from football to rugby, which he played as long as the body was willing. His children and grandchildren carry on the family homestead on Chesapeake Bay which they, Chris and his beloved partner, Charlotte, built and rebuilt.
Peter Rhines
