Kenneth Marsh Dolbeare passed away at his residence in Hayward, California on Friday morning, September 25th.  He was 90 years old.

Ken was born on January 25th, 1930 in Mineola, New York.  He was raised in Garden City NY, where first his grandfather and then father served as Headmaster at St Paul’s School.  He excelled at sports in school, particularly baseball, where he found success as a pitcher.  Later in life, he prided himself in teaching his children and grandchildren how to throw his famous curveball. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College in Pennsylvania.  There he met and married his first wife, Nancy Neusbaum, in 1953.  In 1961 their daughter Patty was born; in 1963 their son Tim.

Ken enlisted in the navy in 1954 where he earned the rank of Lieutenant. Once back in civilian life, Ken earned a law degree from the Brooklyn College of Law in 1958, and did a stint as a corporate lawyer for Shell Oil.  He then went on to earn a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University in 1965. Here Ken began his transformation from being a young Republican to being a scholar of liberal political theory. This is who we all knew and loved.  

After Ken and Nancy divorced in 1965, he began his career as an educator at the University of Wisconsin.  In 1969, Ken was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work in political science.  In 1970 he moved to the University of Washington in Seattle, where he was the chair of the political science department.  In 1974 Ken moved to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA.  There he married Linda Medcalf. They had two sons, Jake born in 1977 and Matt born in 1979. Ken’s self-proclaimed “favorite photograph of all time shows Patty and Tim on the couch in the TV den, each holding one of their small half-brothers.”

In 1981 Ken and his family moved back to the Pacific Northwest, where Linda had been born and raised. They settled in Olympia where Ken was faculty at the Evergreen State College, teaching in political economy, social change, and public administration. But more importantly, it is where Jake and Matt were raised. He marveled at their ability to weave themselves into close friendships and took pride in their athletic abilities throughout high school. Ken continued to talk baseball throughout his life and made a point to follow the Red Sox for his grandson Joey’s sake. 

Ken married Jannette Hubble in Olympia in 1993.  In 1997 he retired from Evergreen, but not before authoring 13 books and numerous journal articles and essays during his academic career. After retirement Ken went on to explore the world, traveling and living in Colorado, Mexico, New Mexico, Nicaragua, Washington, Colombia, and finally California.  

Ken leaves behind his children Patty Lea, Tim Dolbeare, Jake Medcalf, Matthew Medcalf, step-daughters Beth and Lindsay Baca, and eleven grandchildren.

A virtual gathering will be held on November 7th, 2020 at 3 PM PST to remember and celebrate Ken’s life. If you’d like to attend, please register here.