Eminent Florida history professor Michael Gannon dies at 89

Michael Gannon, a University of Florida history professor and expert on the state’s Spanish period, has died. He was 89.

The university said Gannon died peacefully in his sleep on April 10. No cause of death was released.

“It’s hard to say where to start with Mike’s involvement with the university. It just seems like he was involved with so many things,” UF historian Carl Van Ness told the Gainesville Sun. “He was funny and had a great sense of humor — very outgoing. He had a beautiful, beautiful voice.”

And that voice also was a soothing one.

The former priest was a key figuring in soothing emotions on campus after two major historic events: the 1970 shootings of student anti-war protesters at Kent State University by Ohio National Guard and the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Gannon also was an expert on Florida history from its Spanish founding through the U.S. Civil War.

Gannon is also credited with research that contends that the first Thanksgiving occurred in St. Augustine in 1565 between Spaniards and Timucuan native Americans.

According to the St. Augustine Record, he was protective of the city’s 1565 founding, offering this quote: “By the time Jamestown was founded in 1607 and Plymouth in 1620, St. Augustine was up for urban renewal.”

“I looked over at the cross at the mission and I reflected on Dr. Gannon and his impact on some lives and our community,” St. Augustine City Manager John Regan told the newspaper. “Not only was he our foremost historian but he was such a kind person and a mentor to so many people. “He was a giant of a man that you can see his impact in the symbolism of the Great Cross.”

Gannon, who was born in Oklahoma and moved to St. Augustine in 1941, received his doctorate in history from UF.

He is survived by his wife, Genevieve Haugen.

This story was originally published April 16, 2017 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Eminent Florida history professor Michael Gannon dies at 89."