In late 2001, Niebuhr, with a growing family, left the Times first to become a fellow at Princeton’s Center for the Study of Religion and later to Syracuse, where his wife, Margaret, was a professor. There he taught both journalism and courses on the history of religion.
“You cannot understand the history of America without understanding religious history,” he said in 2010.
A graduate of Pomona College and Oxford University, Niebuhr was the author of two books: “Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America” and “Lincoln’s Bishop: A President, a Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors,” about a clergyman who helped convince Abraham Lincoln to spare the lives of a group of Native American men.
In 2010, Niebuhr received the William A. Reed Lifetime Achievement Award from the Religion News Association. At the time, he worried that newspapers were cutting back on religion coverage to their detriment: “You can’t write about the modern world without knowing about religion,” he said at the time.
A tribute to Niebuhr recounted his love for his family and his zeal for travel, despite his illness.
“A soft-spoken man with a gentle, dry wit, Niebuhr balanced serious intellectual pursuits with warmth and generosity of spirit inherited from his mother, Nancy Mullican Niebuhr,” the tribute read.
Survivors include his wife, Margaret; his two sons; his sister Sarah; two nieces and four grandnieces and nephews.
A service is planned for Dec. 29 at Syracuse University.
This article originally appeared here.
