Statement from National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Bruce Cole on the Death of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese

"The National Endowment for the Humanities has lost a valued Council Member and one of our nation’s most courageous scholars, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese of Atlanta. Betsey and her husband, Gene, were colleagues of mine long ago at the University of Rochester and I have had the pleasure of witnessing, from near and from afar, Betsey’s pursuit of the truth over the years. Betsey continuously reexamined all she learned throughout her life in an effort to determine what is eternal and fundamental, versus what is fad or illusion. She was an outspoken champion of rigorous scholarship within the academy and an example of intellectual and moral courage to everyone who had the good fortune to be her student, colleague, or friend. Our greatest tribute to Betsey will be a recommitment to the ongoing search for that which is true; for that is how she lived, that is what she taught, and that is what she would want for us all."