Written by Eric Vrooman, Jennifer Ackil, and Kate Wittenstein.
Gregory Lawrence Kaster, of Minneapolis, passed away unexpectedly June 22 at the age of 70 surrounded by his partner, spouse, and best friend of 38 years Kate Wittenstein and loved and loving friends. He was predeceased by his parents, Theodore and Wilma Jean Kaster of Park Forest, Illinois. He is survived by Lawrence and Elizabeth Kaster of Los Angeles; Jessica and David Barranco of Paradise Valley, Arizona; Andrew and Vicki Wittenstein of Brooklyn, New York; cousin Alice Arnold of Chicago, Illinois; and many loved nieces, nephews, great nieces, and nephews.
Greg attended school in Park Forest, Illinois, and received his BA (1975) and MA (1978) from Northern Illinois University, and his PhD (1990) from Boston University before joining the Gustavus Adolphus College History Department in 1986. His PhD dissertation examined the language that he called the “labor jeremiad” of organized workingmen in nineteenth-century America. His research and teaching interests included labor history, the history of masculinity in America, slavery and abolitionism, the Civil War, film, visual culture, biography, dissent, and memory and history. His publications include a chapter comparing the films Django Unchained and Lincoln in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (Bloomsbury, 2014), an essay on the American labor movement, 1790-1860, in Encyclopedia of American Social Movements (M.E. Sharpe, 2004), and “Labor’s True Man: Organized Workingmen and the Language of Manliness in the USA, 1827-1877” in Gender and History (April 2001). The latter grew out of a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers directed by distinguished labor historian Melvyn Dubofsky.
In the classroom, there is nothing Greg liked more than informed and energetic discussion of the course materials or what he called “working out” with the sources. An outstanding, compassionate, and gifted teacher, his work in the classroom was recognized when he was named the 2018 winner of the Edgar M. Carlson Award, the College’s highest teaching honor. He particularly enjoyed teaching courses on the U.S. Civil War, the 1960s, and recent U.S. history.He also served as the inaugural holder of the James and Patricia McPherson Endowed Professor of American History position from 2019-2023.
Above all, Greg will be remembered by the Gustavus community as a passionate advocate for the power of the liberal arts, especially the humanities, and for being a trusted mentor to faculty and students alike. He was instrumental in bringing many notable speakers to campus, who helped the Gustavus community appreciate the value of the liberal arts in understanding and navigating the present. He was the creator and host of Learning for Life @ Gustavus, an in-depth podcast celebrating Gustavus, its people, and the liberal arts. The podcast recently aired its 150th episode. Those interviewed include Jillian Hiscock ‘05 (owner of A Bar of Their Own, the only bar in Minnesota devoted entirely to women’s athletics); English Department colleague Dr. Martha Ndakalako (whose areas of study include Namibian women’s digital literatures and the #ShutItAllDown feminist protest movement); Representative Samantha (Sam) Vang ’16 (one of the first two Hmong American women to win a Minnesota House seat); and Dr. Bernard Powers ’72 (Professor Emeritus of History at the College of Charleston and founder/director of the Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston). Greg was a leader on campus in many ways, most visibly in chairing the Faculty Senate and Faculty Personnel Committee. He also worked closely with the Board of Trustees, holding several Board committee positions over the years.
A proud Chicagoland native and New Yorker by marriage, Greg was a city person who delighted in the political-cultural energy and diversity of vibrant cities, including Minneapolis and St. Paul. Among his favorite pastimes were dining out with family and friends and shopping at different food purveyors in the Twin Cities. His favorites included Eli’s black and blue burger, the hollandaise sauce at Our Kitchen, octopus at Gardens of Salonica, sandwiches and meat at Clancy’s, and feta and olives from Bill’s Imported Foods. He also loved Greek Town restaurants in Chicago (serving horta and saganaki), Union Oyster House in Boston, Zabar’s in New York, and going from the Logan airport directly to lunch at the Daily Catch on trips to Boston’s North End. His love of good food was matched by his love of conversations about food with servers, chefs, fellow diners, family, and friends. Every Wednesday, he drove to Sun Street Bakery in Minneapolis to get doughnuts for the breakfast group at Grant Park. Greg also enjoyed walking city streets and parks; traveling; going to the movies, jazz clubs, and the theater; following politics; and working on his courses and projects amid the life-affirming sounds and smells of a great coffeehouse.
He loved celebrating and supporting colleagues, students, alumni, and friends through food, notes of encouragement, and phone calls and catalyzing connections between them. Greg loved children and was so proud to be adopted uncle or grandpa to many. He took children and their ideas and feelings seriously and treated them with much dignity. He not only had an inherent magnetic capacity for human connection on a personal level, but also a compassion for humanity in a universal sense.
Greg and Kate, also a member of the History Department at Gustavus Adolphus College, were the happy companions of a black lab named Sam, who was predeceased by his and their feline companion, Cooper (named by Kate in honor of the brilliant African American scholar, feminist, and writer, Anna Julia Cooper).
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Greg’s name to the Shelf of Hope (at Agate Housing and Services), the National Endowment for the Humanities, or a cause of your choice. A memorial service will be held at the Elliot Park Hotel (823 5th Ave. South, Minneapolis) on Sunday, July 28th at 1:00p.m. An additional memorial will be held at Alumni Hall at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN on Saturday, October 12th at 9:00 a.m.