04/02/2026
With heavy heart we share the very sad news that Professor Lacy K. Ford, Jr. passed away last night following a long battle with illness. A former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Senior Vice Provost & Dean of Graduate Studies, Chair of the Department of History, and, most recently, Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute for Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina, Lacy was one of his generation’s most influential, rigorous, and gifted historians.
His passion for writing stayed with him until the end. As recently as December 2024 he published Understanding the American South: Slavery, Race, Identity, and the American Century with Cambridge University Press, joining his other, seminal works, including Origins of Southern Radicalism: The South Carolina Upcountry, 1800-1860 (Oxford University Press, 1988) and Deliver Us From Evil: The Slavery Question in the Old South (Oxford University Press, 2009). Lacy’s work was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review, and he was awarded several prestigious fellowships, including two Research Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Lacy was also recipient of the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Humanities in 2023.
Lacy’s brilliance as an historian was rivalled only by his ardent love of teaching. Dozens of graduate students passed through his careful hands; thousands of undergraduates were lucky enough to be taught by a man who venerated the life of the mind. For a scholar who earned all three of his degrees at USC, his impact on our students was a source of immense satisfaction to Lacy.
We will dearly miss Lacy’s warm smile, ready wit, and steadfast kindness. He was beloved to many and will remain so.
Our heartfelt condolences go to his wife, Dr. Janet Hudson, and his entire family. May you rest in peace, Professor Ford.
