Hauser was devoted to teaching Japanese and East Asian history over a career of nearly four decades.
William (Bill) Hauser, a professor emeritus of history, is being remembered for his distinguished teaching career and his research on the economic and social history of Japan鈥檚 .
Hauser, who died at the age of 85, taught at the 暗网吃瓜聽for nearly 40 years鈥攆rom 1974 until his retirement in 2011, serving as chair from 1979 to 1985. His intellectual curiosity knew few boundaries: As an undergraduate at the University of Chicago he majored in mathematics, which he followed with a master鈥檚 degree in East Asian studies and a PhD in Japanese history, both from Yale University.
Hauser was devoted to interdisciplinary teaching and sustaining the field of Japanese and East Asian history at the University, and had a deep interest in Japanese film. He was also among the first faculty members in his department to draw on film as a tool for the teaching of history, according to longtime colleague , the University鈥檚 Franklin W. And Gladys I. Clark Professor of History.
鈥淎nd,鈥� Weaver recalls, 鈥淏ill had a wry, ironic disposition, like he鈥檇 seen it all before and wasn鈥檛 going to let any of it bother him.鈥�
Case in point: in 1991, when the Students鈥� Association bestowed their Teacher of the Year award on Hauser. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure the administration cares. I鈥檓 not sure my department cares, but it鈥檚 nice to know the students care,鈥� Hauser said in his acceptance speech, vowing to use his $500 prize on a piece of art or toward one of his many trips to Japan.
But his department did care.
Speaking as chair at the time of Hauser鈥檚 retirement, Weaver called him a 鈥淛apanese historian by instinct as well as training鈥� who was 鈥渁 central and indispensable pillar of Asian and East Asian studies at the University for almost four decades.鈥�
His undergraduate courses on the samurai, on traditional and modern Japan, on Japan and the Second World War, on women in East Asia, and on East Asian film鈥攖he latter his perennial favorite鈥攃onsistently ranked among the department鈥檚 most popular, Weaver noted in his speech on the occasion of Hauser鈥檚 retirement.
鈥淭wo of Bill鈥檚 passions were palpable, and I was lucky to experience both,鈥� remembers long-time colleague and friend , a Rochester professor emeritus of history and of public health sciences. 鈥淚 went to his classroom on several occasions and enjoyed watching his joy teaching undergraduates the intricacies of Japanese history. The other was cooking鈥攁nd eating鈥攁nd I was lucky to be his guest for dinner many times where he would 鈥榳ok up鈥� a storm.鈥�
The author of (Cambridge University Press, 1974), Hauser wrote about the Japanese textile trade, about Osaka and its early commercial development, on Tokugawa political authority in Western Japan, and on the samurai and the Tokugawa shogunate. In the 1980s, Hauser鈥檚 interests turned toward Japanese family history and the management practices of Japanese family businesses. Later, his research interests shifted toward the portrayal of women and war in Japanese film and the Asian American experience generally.
Hauser is survived by his three sons, Benjamin, Aaron, and Zachary鈥攁ll of whom are adopted from South Korea and about whom he said, according to in the Minnesota Star Tribune, that raising them 鈥渨as more important and meaningful than anything he could publish.鈥�
