BU ALUMNUS LEONARD BROOM (1911-2009)
Leonard Broom, (BS, Phi Beta Kappa, 1933; AM 1934), passed away November 19, 2009, in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 98. One of the first sociologists to join the faculty at UCLA, he served there from 1941 through 1959. During that period, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, served as editor of the American Sociological Review, and co-authored (with Phillip Selznick) one of the first sociology textbooks – a classic that remained the dominant text in the field for nearly 40 years. He subsequently served on the faculty at the University of Texas, where he founded the Population Research Center, and at the Australian National University. Throughout his career, he focused on questions of inequality, as well as on the treatment of minority and aboriginal peoples. In 1977, he moved to Santa Barbara, where he enjoyed an active and generous retirement with his wife, Gretchan Cooke Broom. Prof. Broom’s many contributions to the field of sociology are recounted in the January, 2010, issue of ASA’s Footnotes.