Robert Jervis, Harriman Institute faculty and Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Politics at SIPA, died at his home on December 9.

The Harriman Institute and the Department of Political Science at Columbia shared the news today that Robert Jervis passed away due to lung cancer at his home on December 9. 

Jervis originally hailed from New York, studying political science first at Oberlin, and then at a graduate program in Berkeley, before he met his wife on a trip to the Soviet Union in 1961. In 1980, he returned to New York City to teach at Columbia University, where he became an integral part of the political science community.

For his work in international relations and nuclear security, he served as the head of the American Political Science Association from 2000 to 2001 and received an award from the National Academy of Sciences on averting nuclear war. He also chaired the Historical Review Panel for the CIA, as an Intelligence Community Associate, and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

Many of his contributions to the field, though, came in the form of his impact on his students. The War and Peace Institute stated that “Along with his vast scholarly influence, Jervis will be remembered for his power to convene, his kind heart, humorous personality, and dedication to and love for his students,” and many who have taken his classes at Columbia—Introduction to International Relations and a seminar on the Cold War—remember him warmly, both for his professorial brilliance and his amiable teaching style.

The Harriman Institute, the Saltzman School for War and Peace Studies, and the Department of Political Science at Columbia have all published obituaries honoring Jervis in greater detail.

Bwog extends our deepest sympathies to the family, friends, and colleagues of Professor Jervis.

Professor Robert Jervis via Wikimedia Commons