Centre for Scottish Studies

Professor Ted Cowan, 1944-2022

Professor Ted Cowan was a towering figure in stature and in intellectual influence. At the University of Guelph, where he played a critical and decisive role in continuing the pioneering work of Rev Dr Stanford Reid and others in building Scottish Studies as a field, he was renowned for his bonhomie, his mentorship and his rigorous scholarship.

Ted Cowan delighted the Scottish-Canadian community with his dynamism and erudition: his legacy includes partnerships which established the Scottish Studies Foundation, which has in turn created the first Scottish Studies research chair in North America. From 1979 to 1993 Ted Cowan guided the Scottish Studies programme at Guelph from strength to strength, and epitomised the community-engaged scholar. His studies of early-modern popular culture and belief in Scotland captivated readers, engaged public audiences, and advanced scholarship in the field.

A polymath and gregarious scholar, Ted Cowan was a bright light in the Scottish Studies firmament, a beloved teacher and colleague, and a scholar whose departure for the University of Glasgow—a mark of the international esteem in which has was held—was received with equal parts regret and pride by the Scottish-Canadian community whom he had served so faithfully during his tenure at Guelph. He left a dynamic programme with an international reputation for research excellence, a coterie of exceptional graduates who had benefited from his tutelage, and a wider community whom he had inspired and educated during his time in Canada.

We extend our deepest sympathies to Ted’s family on both sides of the ocean. His memory is dear to us at the University of Guelph. We are grateful for the time he spent here, and for all that he did for so many people, and in so many ways, to advance the University’s mission to ‘improve life’.

Kevin James
Scottish Studies Foundation Chair