Edward W Sloan

Professor Sloan was born October 19, 1931 in Gates Mills, Ohio the son of Edward W. Sloan Jr. (Pike) and Josephine Rudolph Sloan.

He graduated from University School in Shaker Heights, OH in 1949 and received his Baccalaureate and Master’s degrees from Yale University, where he was a member of the 1953 Whiffenpoofs, the a capella singing group.

His long teaching career began during his military service, when he taught at the Army Transportation School at Fort Eustis, VA from 1954 to 1956. He was a financial and transportation analyst at First Boston in New York, before he decided to returned to teaching and received his PhD in History from Harvard University.

He became a member of the faculty of Trinity College in 1963 where he served as chairman of the History department for many years and taught until his retirement in 2003. His areas of expertise included United States history, maritime history, business history and the history of technology. He had a special interest in the impact of steam propulsion on the nineteenth-century maritime world.

In addition to his work at Trinity, Sloan was an adjunct professor of Management with Rensselaer at Hartford. He also taught graduate students for many years at the Mystic Seaport Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies and undergraduates at the Williams College in Mystic program. He became a fellow of the Greenwich Maritime Institute of the University of Greenwich in 2000, and while holding this position he lectured at a number of English universities. He was an active member of the International Maritime Economic History Association

He wrote extensively on topics of maritime history. The US Naval Institute Press published his book, “Benjamin Franklin Isherwood: Naval Engineer” in 1965, and in 2012 came out with a paperback edition. He co-authored “America and the Sea: A Martime History,” published by Mystic Seaport. He published many articles in the International Journal of Maritime History and was a member of its editorial board.

But it was his love of music that enriched and was the heart of his life. “I always have some music running through my head,” he was quoted in the Shoreline Times. “I’m never apart from music. It has been central to my life all along.”

He was an accomplished pianist, clarinetist, classical guitarist and singer. Before being selected for the Whiffenpoofs, in which he held the position of pitchpipe, he was a member of the Yale Glee Club and the Spizzwinks (?). He participated in many Connecticut singing groups over the years including, The Spare Parts, The Hartford Chorale, Con Brio, and the Shoreline Community Chorale. For the past 14 years, he was a member of the Long Island Sound quartet, a group of three former and one honorary Whiffenpoofs who have performed at various functions in the northeast including fundraisers for the Yale-New Haven Cancer hospital and Vista. He also enjoyed singing with a group of former Whiiffenpoofs, the SLOTS, at Yale reunions and other occasions and at Mory’s, the New Haven landmark.

He arranged and wrote musical compositions, including “Agnus Dei,” “What are Heavy?” and “Sing to the Lord with Thanksgiving,” which have been performed by Shoreline Community Chorale, St. Andrew’s Choir, and the Trinity College Chapel Singers. In 2010, his “Go, Bantums, Go!,“ won a competition to be selected as the new college fight song for Trinity College and was featured at the Homecoming game in November of that year.

Sloan was active in the communities in which he lived. He served in New Haven on the Woman’s Seamen’s Friend Society of Connecticut In Madison he was a member of the Madison Historical Society, and served on the board and was Vice President of the Deacon John Grave Foundation. As a member of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church he sang in its Chancel Choir, and he was a member of the Madison Winter Club, and the Madison Beach Club. In Farmington, CT where he lived for 30 years years, he was a member of the Farmington Library board. He was also a member of the Stowe Day Foundation in Hartford, CT, and was a member of the Acorn Club to which he was elected to honorary membership in 2011.

In addition to his wife Kathy, he is survived by his four daughters, Elisabeth Sloan married to Arthur Lichtenberger, Palmer Sloan married to Finley Harckham, Sally Sloan married to Tom Hentoff, and Hunter Sloan Smith and his son Michael Sloan married to Leslie Stone, and fifteen grandchildren; Lydia, Ted and Emily Lichtenberger, Finley, Heath and Haley Harckham, Hugo and Story Jane Hentoff, Portia, Francesca, Misha and Igor Smith, and Dylan, Mia and Wyatt Sloan and a brother, James Sloan of Finland.

The burial will be private. There will be a memorial service at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church will be on September 15, 2012 at 11am. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made on his behalf to Trinity College, Hartford, CT; St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Madison, CT; or Connecticut Hospice in Branford, CT. Please visit www.swanfuneralhomemadison.com for condolences and tributes.