William J. Rorabough, a professor of history at the University of Washington who attended graduate school with Gienapp, said he may have been the foremost Civil War expert of his generation.

“He had an encyclopedic mind and he absorbed historiography in an incredible way,” Rorabough said. “He absorbed the vast literature on the Civil War and out of that his contribution was to synthesize and bring it together.”

Colleagues said Gienapp’s greatest contribution to scholarship was his 1988 book, The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856.

“He revived 19th-century political history by working from both a quantitative and a narrative perspective,” said Warren Professor of American History David H. Donald.

Baird Professor of History Mark A. Kishlansky praised Gienapp’s dedication to undergraduate teaching and the courses he created.

“He was a great teacher who cared about undergrads,” Kishlansky said. “He built an absolutely terrific Core course on the Civil War.”

Kishlansky said he has fond memories of attending Red Sox games with Gienapp, who also taught the popular class, History 1653, “Baseball and American Society, 1840-Present.”

Raymond C. Hohenstein II ’04-’05, who took History 1653, said Gienapp would wear a cap each day from the era they were discussing in class. “People came to hear him lecture,” he said. “The lecture hall was packed for every single class.”

GEORGE A. PLIMPTON '48

George A. Plimpton ’48, the literary critic and legendary prankster who launched his career at the Harvard Lampoon, died on Sept. 5 at his Manhattan apartment. He was 76.

From 1953 until his death, Plimpton edited the prestigious Paris Review, nurturing the nascent careers of Jack Kerouac and Phillip Roth.

But the irreverent Plimpton was best known as the author of more than two dozen books about his eclectic stints as a boxer, hockey goalie, orchestral percussionist, trapeze artist and pyrotechnic.

In one of his most notable exploits as a “participatory journalist,” Plimpton pitched part of an inning of the 1959 All-Star exhibition game, giving up a home run to Frank Thomas, but getting Willie Mays to pop up.

Despite having no formal dramatic training, Plimpton built his own Hollywood career as a self-described “prince of cameos,” first appearing on the silver screen in 1962 when he dressed up as a Bedouin and pushed his way onto the set of Lawrence of Arabia.

Plimpton also earned a temporary position with the New York Philharmonic, playing the sleigh bells, triangle, bass drum and gong.