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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.
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David Glaser
For George life was always about the journey. Whether it was playing stick ball on the streets of Brooklyn as a child, serving in the Marine Corps in the Korean War, teaching on one of his many Fulbrights to Spain and Korea, working on his small finca in Andalusia or endlessly hopping from one University of Maryland overseas assignment to another....George was always on a journey, always looking for adventure in far places and always insisting on making a contribution in the process.
Perhaps the best metaphor for his life journey was our motorcycle trip from Seattle to New York in the summer of 2010. They said it couldn't be done. Bets were placed by good friends some betting we would break down, others that we would give up. After all, we were two geezers in their mid and late 70s , George on an under powered Yamaha single cylinder 248cc with a plastic orange container strapped to the back, myself on an ancient 1967 BMW R50. We were determined to ride only on back roads and travel the 3,500 miles just as the snow was melting in the Rockies. Time was irrelevant.
George led the way. With his usual attention to detail he had mapped our journey across the entire continent, trying to incorporate every possible mountain range along the way. Freezing in the Cascades, breaking down as we crossed the Continental Divide, running out of gas in the shadow of Glacier Park, being trapped in a herd of buffalo in Yellowstone were all part of the journey for George. His quiet intensity and flexibility and good humor were constant throughout. We traveled only 150 miles a day, at speeds never above 60 miles an hour and stopped in sight of a motel at sunset hopefully with a decent bar and restaurant. When the day ended, we would sit in the shadows, smoking small cigarillos,sipping brandy and watch the sun do down. As the moon come up , we discussed matters large and small.
This to my mind was George at his finest. He was incredibly flexible, always even tempered, and so looking forward to the unknown tomorrow. He thrived on the freedom of the moment, the sense of adventure before us, the contributions made to and from conversations we had along the way
.. As George said so often about his life: he had an angel on his shoulder. We were blessed to know him and won't see his like again.
Charles Brumfield
I'm not going to say a lot about George because I don't know a lot. The two comments about his life that have been posted so far really is almost all I know. I met George one time, in Korea as I remember it. We didn't get a chance to talk much but I liked him very much in that short time. His reputation in the UMUC system, though, was very strong, and I admired him from his reputation. May he rest in peace.
Ken Shapiro
Belden Johnson
I met George in 1971 in Madrid. As fellow English profs and novelists, we hit it right off. He invited Mei-yu (the lovely woman I'd married in Taiwan) and me to his apartment for a hash party. At that time Mei-yu and I were reading Art Janov's Primal Scream, a remarkable book that tends to bring one's feelings to the surface. Neither of us had smoked hashish before and Mei-yu responded by having a full-on primal episode. While I knew what was happening, having read the book, everyone else just assumed she was psychotic. Except George. Calmness itself, he wisely flushed the remaining Afghan black down the john. Only later did he gently inform me about the fascistic country we were then living in and that he was suprised the garda didn't come in. I said, "Is Franco still alive?"
With no hard feelings, George referred me to his literary agent, Elaine Markson, who was sure she'd get The Unconquered published. Sadly, through no fault of Elaine's, it was stolen, perverted, and made into the Hollywood extravaganza Red Dawn. But that's another story. The point for this one is that George stayed good friends with Mei-yu and me even though we'd spoiled his party and nearly gotten us all thrown into prison.
We remained good friends for many years through many incarnations, all of them delightful. I last saw George a couple years ago in South Bend, where he and Hye-Jin warmly hosted me and showed me the town where Pete Buttigieg got started in politics. Though a bit hard of hearing, George was still as sharp as a samurai's sword and would cheerfully discuss any topic under the sun. He could also run up the stairs in his house like a rabbit. I couldn't keep up with him.
I am very sad to lose him, but I know that, wherever he is, he still has that twinkle in his eye.
Joe Arden
The comments about George that have already been posted by his close friends, David Glaser, Ken Shapiro, and Belden Johnson combine to mean there is little to be added reference who George Sidney was and what he was about. Thus, I will content myself by noting that I was the first Marylander to meet George and interact with him and by offering some historical remembrances of him.
George and I met in the fall of 1971 in Madrid. A couple of months earlier, I had become Area Director for the Mediterranean. My first big TDY was to Spain—-Zaragoza, Rota, Seville, and Madrid. George's Fulbright's in Spain having finally been exhausted, George was teaching his first class with Maryland---as an Adjunct at Torrejon Air Base. During the next more than 30 years, I knew George and worked closely with him in Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Okinawa and Korea.
As has already been noted, George was a superb classroom teacher. So, no more in that regard. During his administrative life with Maryland, I was almost always his direct "Boss" (definitely not his "superior")---in both Europe and Asia. George served most capably as an Area Director and superbly as a Coordinator, Faculty Development, but his greatest value to me was as an advisor. Because of his always sound reasoning process and his constant sense of what was "...the right thing to do..."
It was always very helpful to bounce ideas off George. To talk through issues/problems with him. Quickly, we developed a deep trust and confidence in one another. This expressed itself in George not being reluctant to disagree with me, indeed criticize me. He felt comfortable to so do because he knew that whatever he said to me no matter how critical, I would listen and accept or not accept and that things would end there.
George was a remarkable person—-in so many ways. My life was greatly enriched by knowing him and by our warm friendship.
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I also want to note that Hye-jin Juhn, George's wife for the last 30 years of his life, took marvelous care of him during his long and debilitating decline. This care was all the more needed and lovingly given during the last three-four years of George's life.
George and Hye-jin met in Korea when he was there in the 1990s with his Fulbright's and Maryland. Upon moving to the States, they were together in Arizona, Washington, California and Indiana, where at South Bend, Hye-jin was a librarian at Notre Dame University. Then, lastly together in Montreal, where she is a librarian at McGill University.
Without Hye-jin's devotion to George and her caring for him as she did, G's last few years/months/weeks/days would have been much more difficult—-in all ways.
I last saw George in Montreal and Plattsburgh, New York in early August 2025. I continued to speak regularly with him via telephone from then until a day or so before his passing in late May 2026. George was very much aware of how much Hye-jin was doing for him, and he greatly appreciated. That knowledge made his last few days much more meaningful to him.
Mary Lawlor
It’s difficult to know where to start in writing about George, especially after the wonderful tributes already posted here. He meant so much to so many of us for so long. I met him in 1976, when I was one of a host of clerical people working at Im Bosseldorn 30 and he was Area Director for the Med. He had a magnetic presence and was a deeply respected, imaginative administrator. George was a good friend to many of us—a careful listener and wise adviser with a great, caring heart.
As a novelist, George had a keen eye for people and situations. He’d often watch the action at a dinner table or meeting without saying much but keeping a close eye—with that much-noted twinkle—on the quirks of character and interactions that seemed to amuse him. His input in the aftermath would always be incisive and enlightening.
George was a great character himself too. I remember him barreling around the country outside his home in El Centenillo, Spain in an old blue Mercedes he’d bought 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) hand that was always breaking down; but he always seemed to have the tools and know-how to get it going again. I’m not sure it was registered anywhere or had insurance coverage, but one way or another that car worked and got him where he needed to go.
El Centenillo once hosted a British mining operation and, unlike most Spanish villages, featured white picket fences and roses planted along the streets. It was a sweet and welcoming place in the middle of nowhere, which meant it was off the tourist circuit and just the right place for George. His old house was a wonderful and mysterious place with various levels, including a work area off the back garden and a small, dark room where he would write. I was fortunate to be a guest there a few times with Christie, and it was always a memorable experience, with people coming and going from all points of the compass, including his friends who were native to the village.
George was a quiet man, but he had boundless energy, as evidenced by his motorcycle trips with Dave Glaser, the constant maintenance of both his houses in El Centenillo, his ideas for courses and genius for matching professors with places where they were needed. It seemed like he’d be with us, forever, like an element of nature. It's hard to take in the fact that he is gone. But memories of him in Heidelberg, Okinawa, Madrid, El Centenillo and my house in Gaucín, which George visited with Hye-jin, will keep him with us for all the days to come.
Jane McHan
It is with deep sadness to hear about George's last years and death. I met George in the mid 80's when we shared the FACCORD office for meeting and reviewing faculty classes. The previous comments describe George so well that it is difficult to add more information. He was "one of a kind". He was generous, kind, very intelligent and a very good friend. I enthusiastically loved hearing about his house in Spain and his many journeys and memorable experiences. He had a great sense of humor and the office became brighter when he was there. Peace to you, George.