Michael Kater, Distinguished Research Professor emeritus in York University’s Department of History, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, passed away on Nov. 17 at the age of 88.
After completing degrees at the universities of Toronto, Munich and Heidelberg, Kater joined York University in 1967 as an assistant professor of German history. He was promoted to associate professor in 1970, professor of history in 1973 and was honoured with the title of Distinguished Research Professor in 1991.
He was also an Atkinson research fellow from 1984-85, as well as a Jason A. Hannah visiting professor at McMaster University from 1985-86 and University of Toronto from 1997-98.
Over the course of his impressive research career, Kater was the recipient of several accolades including the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Canada Council Senior Killam Fellowship and the Konrad Adenauer Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1988.
His books have won numerous awards, including the 1998 Wallace K. Ferguson Prize for The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich, the 2024 Irving Abella Book Award in History for After the Nazis: The Story of Culture in West Germany and the Royal Society of Canada's Jason A. Hannah Medal for his book Doctors Under Hitler.
Kater’s distinguished works also includes Different Drummers: Jazz in the Culture of Nazi Germany (1992), Hitler Youth (2004) and Culture in Nazi Germany (2019).