Connecticut History. In 2008, Governor Jodi Rell appointed him Acting Connecticut State Historian, in which capacity he served on the Connecticut Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. He was active in the UConn community. In 1976, he was president of the Federation of University Teachers during the campaign that brought collective bargaining to UConn, and later served on the executive committee and bargaining team of the university's chapter of the American Association of University Professors. He was an active member of the University Senate for many years, serving on the Senate executive committee and chairing several standing committees. Stave also participated in local politics and civic organizations. He was active on Coventry's Democratic Town Committee for many years and served on the board of the Booth & Dimock Library in Coventry. Stave and his wife co-founded the Northeast Chapter of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union. Personal life Stave and his future wife, Sondra Astor Stave (1941–), met while working together at a summer camp in the Catskills in 1957. They married in 1961. On moving to Connecticut, they took up residence in Coventry from 1970 onward. The Staves traveled widely, visiting over one hundred countries and all seven continents. Following Bruce's retirement, they ran an oral history consulting business and continued to volunteer for local organizations and educational programs. Stave passed away from congestive heart failure on December 2, 2017. He was survived by his wife as well as their son and only child, Channing. A graduate of City College of New York (1961) and the University of Connecticut (MA in English, 1968), Sondra Astor Stave worked as a teacher, legislative assistant, and director of adult education for the town of Mansfield. She edited a cookbook series and held various leadership roles in civic organizations. Legacy The Bruce M. and Sondra Astor Stave Prize in Recent American History was established by UConn in 2003. Bruce Stave's papers are held at the University of Connecticut's Archives and Special Collections. Selected works Red Brick in the Land of Steady Habits: Creating the University of Connecticut, 1881–2006 (University Press of New England, 2006) – winner of the 2007 Homer D. Babbidge, Jr. Award for "best book on a significant aspect of Connecticut’s history" from the Association for the Study of Connecticut History. Witness to Nuremberg: An Oral History of American Participants at the War Crimes Trials (Twayne, 1998). From the Old Country: An Oral History