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Paul George Hummasti ’67

A picture of Paul Hummasti

Paul and Terttu Hummasti on their wedding day in Finland.

Paul George Hummasti ’67, August 18, 2010, in Springfield, Missouri, from cancer. Paul was born in Astoria, Oregon, and grew up in Svensen, graduating from Knappa High School as valedictorian. He earned a BA from Reed in history and continued his studies at the University of Oregon, earning a PhD in 1975. During his graduate years, he studied in Finland on a Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Helsinki, and there he met Terttu Tukiainen; they married in Finland in 1972. Paul taught history at the University of Oregon, California State University at Chico, the University of California at San Diego, Texas Tech, and Missouri State University in Springfield. He was also visiting professor at the University of Tampere in Finland and at Imperial College in London. He was a renowned scholar on Finnish immigration and socialism and published the book Finnish Radicals in Astoria, 1904–1940: A Study in Immigrant Socialism, as well as numerous articles based on his research. He was also co-creator of the films Remembering Uniontown and Steam Whistle Logging, available through the Clatsop County Historical Society in Oregon. Among his many other interests were reading, traveling, and playing strategic board games. Survivors include his wife; four daughters, including Sarah Hummasti ’96; a grandson; and two brothers. His mother, Irma Marie Konttas, attended Reed in 1929–30.

Appeared in Reed magazine: June 2011

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