Mischa Penn, a longtime professor in the humanities at the University of Minnesota who helped to pave the way for greater conversations on social issues, died Saturday. He was 89.
Penn taught for more than 50 years at the university and was the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including one from the College of Liberal Arts in 1970. Penn, who held the title of Morse Distinguished Teaching Professor of Social Science, was also inducted into the Professors’ Hall of Fame in 1996.
He created a course on racism, which helped heighten sensitivity about the issue on campus, said Ken Keller, the U’s president from 1985 to 1988. Penn also worked on a committee that led to the creation of the Department of African American Studies.
“He was very sensitive to issues of marginalization,” Keller said. “He was very empathetic and very much engaged.”
His interest in taking on social issues stemmed from his roots in a Russian immigrant family that was Orthodox Jewish. While his faith was more personally held, its values translated into caring about minority issues, Keller said.
“He was an ardent human rights supporter,” according to Penn’s daughter, Eden Penn. “He had a sharp wit, and a huge, great sense of humor … he was my No. 1 champion.”
Every morning he would write an email to her and her brother reading something along the lines of: “Good morning. Love, Dad.” She said he did this for decades to let them know he was doing all right.
At 13, Penn, who was a native of St. Paul, began attending a religious boarding school in Brooklyn, N.Y., with the expectation he would become a rabbi. Later, he went to the University of Minnesota for his undergraduate and master’s degrees.
Penn later met his wife, fellow St. Paul native Barbara Penn, and they soon married. Both were Jewish and politically engaged in social issues.
Eden Penn said her father also cared about women’s rights, so he encouraged his wife to pursue her career as a lawyer. Mischa and Barbara Penn were married for 61 years.
Penn was also dedicated to teaching his students, Barbara Penn said.
“He was always learning and very knowledgeable,” she said of her husband, who kept teaching into his 70s. “He made such a dramatic impact on so many students.”
Keller was Penn’s student at one point, and the two later became colleagues at the U. The pair had remained friends — even having annual New Year’s gatherings and Boundary Waters outings together. The colleagues-turned-friends enjoyed each other’s humor and camaraderie, Keller said.
“He was a perfect person to be at the university,” Keller said. “His sense of the place of higher education, the place of ideas, was so strong.”
After leaving the classroom, students would stop him on the street to tell him how much he influenced their lives — even as far away as in Florence, Italy, Barbara Penn said.
“He was marvelous in being a model for them. He didn’t just teach them facts,” Keller said. “He became a mentor in many ways.”
A question often posed during his classes’ final exam was the famous “Mischa Penn” question: Students had to create their own question related to the course and answer it, Eden Penn said.
“He sought a lot of input … from students,” said Ron Atkinson, a former student in the early 1970s, who said Penn was one of his favorite professors. “Everything about him was very enjoyable.”
In addition to his wife and daughter, Penn is survived by his son, David, and six grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Sunday.
