Roy H. Ginsberg

Roy H. Ginsberg, Professor Emeritus, Skidmore College, and world expert on the European Union, has died at the age of 71, due to complications of Parkinson’s and brain cancer. He leaves behind his wife of thirty-seven years, Kirsten Elizabeth Mishkin, his beloved daughter Monica Jane and son-in-law Eric Gehman, and his brother-in-law, Peter Mishkin. He was a member of Temple Sinai in Saratoga Springs, New York for 40 years.

Roy was born in Baltimore. His immigrant great-grandfather founded a renowned Baltimore apparel company, Calvert Clothes, in the 1890s. His father, Jerome Solomon Ginsberg, died in 1962 at the age of thirty-three when American Airlines Flight 1 crashed on takeoff from Idlewild (now Kennedy) Airport into Jamaica Bay. Roy’s four grandparents were closely involved in his upbringing and heavily influenced the man he came to be.

Roy earned his PhD in International Affairs in 1985 from The George Washington University, while he gained on-the-ground experience in foreign affairs working for the federal government. In 1981, he was the first American to be granted a fellowship (“stagiaire”) at the European Commission, which enabled him to do research in Brussels and Strasbourg for his dissertation.

During his many years at Skidmore, Roy helped establish the College’s International Affairs major with substantial support from the U.S. Department of Education and the European Commission. In memory of his father, who served in the U.S. Army of Occupation in Germany after World War II, he endowed the annual Jerome Solomon Ginsberg Award for International Affairs majors who have excelled academically. He also received the President’s Service Award and, on the fiftieth anniversary of the European Union, was chosen by the faculty to deliver the annual Moseley Lecture. One of only three Americans at the time, he was awarded the Jean Monnet Chair in European Integration Studies by the European Commission.

He was a widely sought speaker on transatlantic relations, both in Europe and the United States, and lectured for the U.S. State Department in most western and eastern European countries, both before and after the Cold War. He consulted throughout his career for U.S. federal agencies and their European equivalents. He twice submitted testimony to Congressional committees on U.S.-EU relations and briefed then Ambassador-Designate Stuart Eizenstat and other ambassadors-designate ahead of their Senate confirmations. In 1993-94, he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship by the Belgian and U.S. governments, working out of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. He was visiting professor at SAIS, New York University, Georgetown University, Hamilton College, and the University of Louvain. A founder and chair of the European Union Studies Association of the United States, he was instrumental in attracting funding for the young organization from The Ford Foundation and The German Marshall Fund. He contributed to CNN, CSPAN, The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, Le Soir, and Polish and Czech television and print media.

Roy was author/co-author of six books on the European Union and the United States, as well as numerous articles, book chapters and monographs. The most notable books include Foreign Policy Actions of the European Community: The Politics of Scale; The European Union in International Politics: Baptism by Fire; and Demystifying The European Union: The Enduring Logic of Regional Integration.

He was a devoted husband, father, grandson, friend, and teacher/mentor. He was dedicated to college service, to international education and to his students’ overall development as global citizens. He most enjoyed placing them at the intersection of history, theory and practice. Many went on to distinguished careers and richer lives.

Roy enjoyed a quiet retirement with Kirsten at their log cabin, “Ferndene,” in Goodnow Flow and the welcoming Adirondack community of Newcomb, New York, where he continued to write and publish. He was a loyal member of the Newcomb Lions Club International and was active in community service. He created and moderated The Newcomb Foreign Affairs Roundtable, which met in summer months for twenty years, bridging local and global education in the heart of the Adirondacks. All along, at every step of the way, Kirsten was there. For that, he was forever grateful.

Contributions in memory of Roy H. Ginsberg may be made to the Temple Sinai Endowment Fund, Saratoga Springs, NY; the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research; and the National Brain Tumor Society.

A memorial service will be held at the Newcomb Community Center on Sunday, July 12, from 1pm to 3pm.

For those unable to attend in person, the service will be broadcast live over Google Meet. You should not need to install any special software or sign up for an account to watch the service from a computer. Some tablets or smartphones may be prompted to quickly install the free Google Meet app.

How to Watch the Service

Click this link to join the meeting: https://meet.google.com/hns-wzwr-jwf

If prompted, type in your name so we know who is joining us.

Click the blue button that says "Join now." 

Please note that your camera and microphone will be disabled throughout the service. 

Thank you all for your love, support, and for being a part of Roy's memory, near or far.