Gu History Professor Dies At 42

Timothy Sarbaugh, a Gonzaga University history professor whose office always had a waiting line, died Friday of stomach cancer. He was 42.

Sarbaugh just finished editing a history on the Irish famine’s relationship to North America. He’s remembered as a tough teacher who drew the best out of his students.

“I always tell people that he was the one person at Gonzaga University who should have a turnstile at his door,” said Gigi Preston, who took a class on Irish history and an independent study with Sarbaugh. “There were always two or three students waiting to see him.”

Former history student Laura Stanfield hated history - until she took a class from Sarbaugh.

“She said, ‘Mom, he is the best teacher I have ever had in my whole life,”’ Margot Stanfield said. “She said, ‘That’s saying something, knowing how I feel about history.’ That was not her forte. She just came alive, taking that class.”

The vigil service will be held at 7 tonight in the Rose Chapel at Hennessey-Smith Funeral Home, 2203 N. Division.

Funeral mass will be celebrated at 2 p.m. Tuesday at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, 402 E. Boone. A reception will then be held across the street at Cataldo Hall.

Sarbaugh is survived by his wife, Sarah; sons Bee and Christopher; daughter Mary Katherine; mother Joan Sarbaugh; and brothers Paul and Christopher Sarbaugh, both of San Jose.

, DataTimes