Deceased January 16, 2021
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In Memory
Edward Gubar, 78, died on Jan. 16 at his home in Bloomington, Ind. At Amherst only for his freshman year, Ed went on to graduate from City College of New York and, after more degrees and journalism, became an award-winning teacher and professor at the University of Indiana for 34 years.
Born Feb. 26, 1942, son of Jacob Gubar and Beatrice Miller Gubar, he graduated from Weehawken High School, across the Hudson River from Manhattan. At Amherst, Ed soon realized that small-town Massachusetts was not for him and left after a year.
Graduate work came at the University of Iowa, where he earned an M.A. in English and an M.F.A. in fiction writing. His journalism included a book review column, Off the Rack, which syndicated to Midwest newspapers. He wrote fiction and nonfiction for periodicals and won fellowships and grants for his writing.
At Indiana, Ed taught in the school of journalism and later in the university’s Hutton Honors College. In 2013, he won the Indiana Trustees’ Teaching Award. Ed was a lifelong Yankees fan. In Bloomington, he coached a winning softball team for many years.
George Peterson ’63, who lived down the hall at Morrow dormitory, remembers Ed’s love of cool jazz: “He would sit in his room listening over and over to Brubeck's ‘Take Five’—often skipping class. … He tried to explain the time structure of ‘Take Five’ to me but ended by saying, ‘Here, take the album. This is the cut for “Take Five.” Listen to it three times, back-to-back, and see if you don’t want to listen to it yet again.’ I did as he suggested and had the response he predicted.”
Ed left a partner, Christine Matheu; her daughter, Laurel Cohen; and his daughters, Marah “Molly” Gubar, an MIT professor, and Simone Silverbush.
Neale Adams ’63