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Michael R. Marrus (1941- 2022 ) was a University of Toronto professor and historian who was an internationally-recognized expert on the Holocaust and Jewish and French history.
Born in Toronto, Prof. Marrus received his BA from the University of Toronto in 1963. He then received his MA (1964) and PhD (1968) at the University of California, Berkeley. He also received his Master of Studies in Law from the University of Toronto in 2005.
Prof. Marrus began his career at the University of Toronto as Assistant Professor of History in 1968. He became Associate Professor in 1973, full Professor in 1978, and Professor Emeritus in 2009. Prof. Marrus also served as the Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies from 2000 to 2006 (and since 2007, as Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies). He also taught as an adjunct in the Faculty of Law since 2006.
In addition to his teaching and research duties, Prof. Marrus served the University of Toronto in many administrative capacities, including on Governing Council (1987-1996, 2002-2009, 2010-) and as Dean of the School of Graduate Studies (1997-2004).
Prof. Marrus was a visiting fellow of St. Antony’s College, Oxford and the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a visiting professor at UCLA and the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
During his career, Prof. Marrus published numerous articles and books on the Holocaust and the treatment of Jewish people in France during the Second World War. Some of his most notable books include The politics of assimilation: a study of the French Jewish community at the time of the Dreyfus Affair (1971), Vichy France and the Jews (1981), The unwanted: European Refugees in the Twentieth Century (1985), The Holocaust in history (1987), Mr. Sam: the life and times of Samuel Bronfman (1991), and Some measure of justice: the Holocaust era restitution campaign of the 1990s (2009). He was also editor of a fifteen-volume work, The Nazi Holocaust: historical articles on the destruction of European Jews (1992). Prof. Marrus presented his research in both local and international settings, at numerous conferences, academic gatherings, and community group events.
Prof. Marrus was appointed to serve on the International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission, which consisted of three Jewish and three Catholic scholars tasked with exploring the role of the Vatican during the Holocaust. The commission worked from 1999 to 2001, and issued a report in 2000. In 2008, Marrus was awarded the Order of Canada.
Prof. Marrus married Randi Greenstein in 1971 and had three children. Following a period of ill health, Marrus died on Dec. 23rd, 2022.