Dear LMU Community:
I am saddened to share that Joe Tiedemann, emeritus professor of history, passed away due to congestive heart failure on July 2, 2026. He was 81 years old.
Professor Tiedemann joined LMU in 1979, was promoted to professor in 1989, and, throughout his career until his retirement in 2011, embodied the teacher-scholar model that distinguishes LMU. Professor Tiedemann made extraordinary contributions to the growth and strength of the History Department and the university. He was awarded the 1980-81 College of Liberal Arts (later named BCLA) Teacher of the Year, mentored numerous faculty members, served on many department, college, and university committees, and distinguished himself as a knowledgeable and caring colleague. Over the course of three decades in the classroom, Professor Tiedemann consistently refreshed and revised his curriculum and presentations, demonstrating his enduring commitment to his students.
His book “Reluctant Revolutionaries: New York City and the Road to Independence, 1763–1776,” published by Cornell University Press, explored New Yorkers’ motivations and actions leading to the American Revolution and received the Distinguished Book Award from the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York. Professor Tiedemann co-edited two volumes, “The Other New York: The American Revolution outside New York City,” and “The Other Loyalists: Ordinary People, Royalism, and the American Revolution in the Middle States,” and he authored numerous journal articles.
Professor Teidemann earned his Ph.D. at the City University of New York.
A celebration of life for Professor Tiedemann will be held on Aug. 4, 2026, at Visitation Church in Westchester, celebrated by his brother, retired Bishop Neil Tiedemann from Brooklyn, New York. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his memory to St. Margaret’s Center in Inglewood.
Please keep Joe, his wife Barbara, sons Scott ’92 and Michael ’96, their spouses, and his four granddaughters, his friends, and colleagues in your thoughts and prayers.
With care,
Thomas Poon, Ph.D.
President and Professor