Richard Hellie (May 8, 1937 – April 24, 2009) was an American historian. Richard Hellie was born in

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...

, on May 8, 1937, to Ole Hellie and Elizabeth Larsen. His mother was a schoolteacher, and his father was a journalist. Ole worked successively for newspapers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa before joining the ''

Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the juncti ...

'' in 1941, where he covered Nazi war crimes. Richard Hellie's interest in Russian history was sparked upon reading a children's book about

Soviet partisans Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The ...

. He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School, where he played football. Following completion of the eleventh grade, Hellie enrolled at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. He completed a bachelor's degree in 1958, followed by a doctorate in 1965, and subsequently began teaching at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

. He returned to Chicago in 1966, and was later appointed Thomas E. Donnelly Professor in History. While on the faculty of the University of Chicago, Hellie served as editor of the journal ''Russian History'' for two decades. He died of complications from esophageal cancer at home in

Hyde Park, Chicago Hyde Park is the 41st of the 77 community areas of Chicago. It is located on the South Side, near the shore of Lake Michigan south of the Loop. Hyde Park's official boundaries are 51st Street/Hyde Park Boulevard on the north, the Midway Pl ...

, on April 24, 2009, aged 71. Four scrapbooks about Harry S. Truman that Hellie created at the age of sixteen are held by the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellie, Richard 1937 births 2009 deaths Writers from Waterloo, Iowa Writers from Des Moines, Iowa 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Historians of Russia Deaths from cancer in Illinois Deaths from esophageal cancer Theodore Roosevelt High School (Iowa) alumni Historians from Iowa