George Sidney
1932 – 2026

University of Maryland University College (UMUC) faculty member and administrator for the last third of the 20th century and opening years of the 21st, George Sidney passed away on 30 May 2026 in Seattle, Washington at the age of 94.

The University of Maryland and George first encountered one another in academic year 1971-72 when, beginning that fall, he taught as an adjunct faculty member in Madrid, Spain. Following the year in Spain, George joined Maryland in 1972 as a full-time traveling faculty member. His last Maryland experience was in 2004-2005, teaching in Japan and Korea.

In 1959, more than a decade before he joined Maryland, George began his career in international education, with three years (1959-1962) at the University of the Americas in Mexico City. After teaching at California State University, Northridge, George began multiple years of service with the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Starting in the mid-1960s teaching in Korea, George must surely hold the record for the most Fulbright professorships. After the two years in Korea, he proceeded directly to four years with Fulbright in Spain, interrupted by a Fulbright for 1967-68 in Vietnam. When the “Tet Offensive” closed the Vietnam assignment in early 1968, George shifted to the program in Korea, where he completed the academic year. He then returned to Spain to complete his four-year Fulbright stint there. In 1969 and 1971 short summer Fulbright assignments took him twice to Poland.

The life experiences that George brought to UMUC prepared him to excel in the university’s overseas programs for deployed U.S. service members. This included not only a decade of teaching in Europe and Asia but also enlisted battle-front service with the U.S. Marine Corps in the Korean War. This also qualified him for the G.I. Bill, which he used to earn his bachelor’s degree in English and his master’s in American literature at New York University. He completed his Ph.D. in American Studies in 1959 at the University of New Mexico. George's Korean War experience provided the background for his novel, For the Love of Dying (Publisher: William Morrow & Company, Inc.1969).

Over 35 years, George taught not only with Maryland in Europe, Asia and the home campus in College Park but also with both the undergraduate and graduate faculties. Along with an outstanding classroom record, George also held several senior administrative positions. With the European Division, he served as Coordinator, Faculty Development, helping colleagues hone teaching skills and then as Area Director, Mediterranean.  In 1978, he transferred to Asia, where for three years, he was Area Director, Okinawa. Then, he moved to College Park in 1981-82 to teach with the new UMUC graduate program in management. The call of the European lifestyle, however, was strong and after one year in Maryland, George returned to Europe. He spent the rest of the 1980s and into the early 90s with the European Division-teaching and again serving as Coordinator, Faculty Development.

When the Fulbright Commission came calling again in the mid-1990s, George taught for three years in Korea. After his Fulbright’s finally expired, 'Mother Maryland' beckoned one last time, offering him the chance to remain in Korea for two more years in the late 1990s, teaching and serving again as Coordinator, Faculty Development. And then to the United States followed by a last Maryland go-around in Japan and Korea, 2004-2005 as a traveling faculty member. 

For more than 75 years, thousands of faculty and staff have had storied experiences in the Maryland Overseas Program. Among these many remarkable histories, George Sidney's must truly rank among the most remarkable.