William Brynteson
William Brynteson, professor emeritus of history, died June 13, 2004, in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
Bill obtained master’s and doctoral degrees in history at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He joined Skidmore’s history faculty in 1964, after briefly teaching at San Diego State University. He chaired Skidmore’s history department from 1978 to 1987 and served on a number of faculty and college committees. Described by a colleague as “a medievalist by vocation, but in practice a true renaissance man,” he taught Greek, Roman, and medieval history and civilization, as well as intellectual history. Together with Helga Doblin in foreign languages, he helped develop Skidmore’s classics department. In 1984 he was selected by his colleagues to deliver the Moseley Faculty Research Lecture.
Bill’s students knew him for his brilliant lectures and demanding assignments. He extended his teaching to local high-school students, taught in Skidmore’s summer Elderhostel program, and was a frequent instructor in the UWW Inmate Higher Education Program. He retired in 1992.
Bill was survived by daughter Rebecca Brynteson Conner ’95, a son, a niece, and two nephews.