Gordon Stewart Wood, the preeminent historian of the American Revolution, died on June 7, 2026, at the age of 92. As the Alva O. Way University Professor and a professor emeritus of history, Wood’s half century of dedicated service transformed the University’s history department into a center for the study of early America.
Wood joined the Brown faculty in 1969, the same year he published The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787, for which he was awarded the 1970 Bancroft Prize. In 1993, Wood received the Pulitzer Prize for History for The Radicalism of the
American Revolution.
“A preeminent scholar of American history, Gordon Wood helped countless readers understand the events and forces that led to the birth of the United States with depth, nuance, and clarity,” Brown President Christina H. Paxson told News from Brown. “He was an inspiring teacher, a generous mentor, and a deeply treasured member of the Brown University community for decades. We mourn the loss of a towering historian whose insights will inform both academic scholarship and public understanding for generations to come.”
Wood was widely regarded as the dean of Revolutionary War historians, according to Smithsonian magazine. His monumental research earned him the highest of accolades. Wood received the National Humanities Medal (2010), presented by President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony honoring Wood’s scholarship for providing vital insight into the nation’s founding.
Born in Concord, Massachusetts, Wood served in the U.S. Air Force before earning his PhD from Harvard University in 1964. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Louise Goss, and their three children, five grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.
