C-A-N-O-P-Y

      Robert McNair McColley, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Illinois, passed away peacefully at his home in Urbana on the winter solstice, December 21st, 2025, with family at his side.

Bob was born on February 2, 1933 in Salina, Kansas, the son of William Grant McColley and Alice McNair McColley. Grant McColley was an itinerant academic with a PhD from Northwestern University. He moved his family around the country, working various jobs during the Great Depression. Consequently, Bob spent his childhood in towns associated with Kansas Wesleyan University (Salina), Smith College (Northampton MA), Western Carolina Teachers College (Cullohwee NC), and Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago). The family finally settled in Washington DC, where Alice became a CIA analyst.

                        Bob, front and center, with (from the left) Margaret&cat, Grant, and Carolyn

Alice came from an academic background as well. Her father, Albert Duy McNair, was a crop research scientist in Fayetteville Arkansas, an expert on Lespedeza (Japan clover) who published his findings on Cotton Belt crop rotation for the US Department of Agriculture.

Bob attended college at Harvard, where he also obtained a masters’ degree. He received a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley before beginning his career at the University of Illinois in 1960. He was the loving father of six children: Rebecca Wilk (David Wilk), Dr. Susanna McColley, Teresa ("Sid") McColley (Dennis Haydon), Carolyn Bruguera (Jeff Dunn), Margaret McColley (Russell DeGrove), and Robert (“Rob”) McColley (Heather Winters) the grandfather of Kelsey Wilk Palmer (Sam Palmer), McColley Wilk (Nick Hernandez), Maxwell (“Max”) McColley Brown, Stuart McColley Brown, Artemis Haydon, Dr. Ren Bruguera and Isabelle (Izzy) Bruguera, and the great-grandfather of Vera Diane Palmer. His beloved wife Diane Kelsey McColley, a distinguished professor of English Literature, preceded him in death as did his sisters, Margaret Ulf and Carolyn McColley.

Bob was a passionate collector of classical music records, and was known to play music for his students that corresponded to the historical timeframe and content of his lectures. He regularly attended concerts in Champaign-Urbana and Chicago, from Krannert Center to Orchestra Hall and Whitney Young High School. He was an active scholar and editor and loved being a mentor and colleague to his graduate students, ushering many onward to successful careers. Bob served as President of the Illinois State Historical Society, receiving its lifetime achievement award. He was a lifelong choral singer who described singing Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (with his wife Diane and the University of Illinois Oratorio Society under the direction of Robert Shaw) as “a highlight of his life”. A tenor, he was an active member of the choir at Trinity Lutheran Church in Urbana. One of Bob’s frequent observations late in life was that "we are richly blessed." Unfailingly generous, gentle and kind, Bob loved animals and children, saw the good in everyone, and appreciated the beauty of the natural world. He called Urbana "a forest with houses," and, during his final years, delighted in watching squirrels prance through the yard and trees from his front porch. We were richly blessed to have a father who was so nurturing, with such a keen intellect and enormous love of life, of his wife and family, his friends, and his pets. He lives in our hearts forever. Donations in Bob’s honor can be made to the Illinois State Historical Society, Trinity Lutheran Church, Eastern Illinois Food Bank or the Anita Purves Nature Center.