H. Roger Grant

H. Roger Grant, a native of Albia, Iowa, and resident of Central, South Carolina, was born on November 28, 1943, and died on November 17, 2023 at age 79. The son of Harry R. Grant (1900-1944) and Marcella Dinsmore Grant Dearinger (1903-1996), step-son of Thomas H. Dearinger (1900-1968), and brother of Richard Dinsmore Grant (1933-2004), Grant graduated from Albia Community High School in 1962 and four years later summa cum laude from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. He earned a M.A. in American history from the University of Missouri in 1967 and a Ph.D. in American history from that institution in 1970. In 2003 Simpson College awarded Grant an honorary L.H.D. degree. In 1970 Grant launched his professional career when he joined the Department of History at the University of Akron. In 1996 he joined the Department of History at Clemson University where for five years he served as chair. In 2004 Clemson named him as its Centennial Professor and two years later as the Kathryn and Calhoun Lemon Professor of History. In 2005 Grant served as the Maxwell C. Weiner Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the University of Missouri-Rolla. Grant is the author, co-author, or editor of 40 academic books and more than 400 pamphlets, book chapters, and articles. He is considered to be one of the nation’s foremost railroad and transportation scholars. Grant’s best-known books are Erie Lackawanna: The Death of an American Railroad 1938-1992 (Stanford) and a trilogy, Railroads and the American People, Electric Interurbans and the American People, and Transportation and the American People (Indiana University Press). His most recent book is Sunset Cluster: A Shortline Railroad Saga (Indiana University Press). His book Railroads in the Midwest will be published in 2024 (Indiana University Press). Grant served on numerous boards and commissions, including the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, president of the Lexington Group for Transportation History, president of the Ohio Academy of History and Chief Faculty Consultant in American History for the Educational Testing Service. Some of his awards include the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship, NDEA Title IV Fellowship, and the Alumni Achievement Award from Simpson College. Grant is survived by his wife Martha Farrington Grant, whom he married in 1966, and by his daughter Julia Dinsmore Grant of Del Mar, California. For the latter part of his life Grant embraced Christian Science. A Family Graveside Service will be held at a future date at Oakview Cemetery, Albia, IA. Donations can be made to the Dinsmore Grant Charitable Fund at San Diego Foundation, 2508 Historic Decatur Road, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92106. Make checks payable to San Diego Foundation and indicate Dinsmore Grant Charitable Fund on the memo line. SANDIFER FUNERAL HOME AND THARP FUNERAL HOME ARE ASSISTING THE GRANT FAMILY

H. Roger Grant

November 28, 1943 - November 17, 2023