Former Colgate professor Arnold A. Sio, a forerunner in teaching race relations at the university level, passed away June 29 in Kingston, N.Y. He was 93.
Sio, who retired in 1984 as the Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of sociology and anthropology emeritus, had taught at Colgate since 1952, when he joined what was then known as the Department of Social Relations.
As a scholar, Sio wrote extensively on the slave societies of the Americas and on Caribbean society and history. During his long career, his specialty in slavery and free people of color led him to teach at the University of West Indies in Jamaica and to travel and lecture throughout the West Indies.
His prolonged sojourns in the Caribbean, beginning in the mid-1960s, included two years as a Fulbright professor at the University of the West Indies.
He also supervised the research of a number of Colgate student groups in the Caribbean — in Barbados, Belize, and Jamaica — in a program that was likely the only one of its kind among Eastern U.S. colleges.
He served twice as chairman of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
Sio had earned his BA degree in anthropology from Beloit College; an MA in anthropology from the University of Chicago; and an MA in sociology and a PhD in sociology and anthropology from the University of Illinois. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII.
Following his retirement, Sio continued his love of intellectual pursuits, editing and reviewing books until his death. He was a member of the Conference of Caribbean Historians. An avid birder with a deep love of nature, books, and art, the former Eagle Scout spent much time with his family on the coast of Maine.
In 2005, a former student, John Runnette ’54, honored the positive influence that Sio had made on him in the way he perceived and treated people of different ethnicities by funding the Arnold Sio Chair for Diversity and Community at Colgate.
At the time of the chair’s creation, Runnette recalled that Sio “didn’t see the color of someone’s skin at all, which was so odd to me back then. Sio’s open-mindedness was apparent in everything he said and did.”
This chair, held on a rotating basis by members of the faculty, provides creative and strategic leadership on issues of diversity through on-campus programming, teaching or organizing student and faculty seminars on relevant topics, and related activities.
Sio is survived by his wife of 62 years, Dorothy; four children, Kevin of Skaneateles, N.Y., Hilary of New Paltz, N.Y., Carter of Newtown, Pa., and Julie Colbath of Norwalk, Conn.; eight grandchildren; and several other relatives. There was no formal public service.
An on-campus memorial service is planned for the fall. Donations in Sio’s memory may be made to Milbridge Library, PO Box 128, Milbridge, Maine, 04658, or to the Downeast Coastal Conservancy, PO Box 760, Machias, Maine 04654.