DAVID HERBERT DONALD, 88
Renowned Lincoln, Civil War historian
David Herbert Donald, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Civil War and American South whose expertise on Abraham Lincoln brought him a wide general audience and reverence from his peers, died Sunday of heart failure in Boston.
A professor emeritus at Harvard University, Dr. Donald won Pulitzers for biographies of abolitionist Charles Sumner and novelist Thomas Wolfe. But his books on Lincoln became his legacy. Presidents from John F. Kennedy to the first George Bush summoned him for lectures and fellow scholars acknowledged his prominence, especially as Lincoln's bicentennial was celebrated this year.
Dr. Donald's stature was so high among Lincoln experts that an award was even named after him, the David Herbert Donald Prize for "excellence in Lincoln studies." In 2005, he was the first honoree.
- Associated Press
