Lawrence F. Barmann, Ph.D.: 1932-2025

Lawrence F. Barmann, Ph.D., professor emeritus of American Studies at Saint Louis University, died Friday, April 25, 2025. He was 92. 

Lawrence Francis Barmann was born June 9, 1932, to Francis and Weber (nee Lamar) Barmann. In 1946, he enrolled in Campion, a Jesuit-run boarding high school in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, graduating four years later, in 1950. After graduation, he joined the order of the Jesuits and was ordained a priest in 1963. He left the Jesuits in 1979. 

As a novitiate in 1952, he was assigned as an orderly to St. Mary’s Infirmary as part of his probationary period. This experience would go on to provide the inspiration for the class he later taught at SLU, titled “The History of Anti-Black Racism in the United States.” He would use the same approach in the creation of his class, “The History of Anti-Semitism.” 

In 1956, he received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and history from Saint Louis University. In 1957-59, he taught history and speech at St. Louis University High School. In 1960, he received a master's in medieval intellectual history from Fordham University. In 1970, he received his Ph.D. in the history of religious thought from Cambridge University.

Barmann returned to SLU and remained at the University for the next 30 years. He was named the director of the American Studies program in 1981, a position he held until 1988. 

He won the Nancy McNeir Ring Award for Outstanding Teacher in 1975 and retired from SLU in 2001.

He is survived by nieces Amy Barmann, Jennifer Marcus, Missy Liebbrandt and Susan Lietzke and nephews Robert Barmann and James Barmann. A funeral Mass was held May 1 at St. Francis Xavier College Church.