James F. Tent ’66

James F. Tent ’66, historian and museum docent, died on June 25, 2018. He grew up in Glen Rock, New Jersey, and after Dartmouth earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1973. Education was Jim’s passion and profession. After teaching for one year at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, Jim became a professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 1974 and a university scholar in 1990. He served as the chair of the UAB history department from 2002 to 2009 and was appointed a university scholar emeritus by the UAB system board of trustees in 2010. An expert in modern German history, military history, and the Cold War, Jim published numerous books in English and German during the course of his academic career. In 2009 he received the Education Award from the Alabama-Germany Partnership. Jim also had long and productive relationships with several museums, including the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham and the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. He frequently wore full Highlands regalia—including a 10-pound woolen kilt—to perform as drummer with the Alabama Pipes and Drums. In 2009, Jim moved with his wife, Margaret “Bunnie,” to Frederick, Maryland, where he immersed himself in Civil War history and served as a docent at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Jim was predeceased by Bunnie. He is survived by son John; daughter Virginia; grandchildren Joanna, Helena, and Hugo; and sister Penelope.