Dr. Judith Bainbridge, a longtime Furman administrator and Professor Emerita of English, passed away recently on Sept. 18, 2026. She was 89.<\/p>\n
Dr. Bainbridge received a B.A. in English from Mary Washington College, and she later earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. Following brief teaching stints at Johnson C. Smith University and Queens College, she came to Furman in 1976 as Director of Educational Services and a faculty member in the English Department.<\/p>\n
In her Educational Services role, Dr. Bainbridge performed numerous tasks, including grant-writing, arranging campus visits by prominent scholars and establishing a recognition dinner for seniors graduating summa cum laude<\/em> that included their parents and a K-12 teacher who had played an important role in their lives. Perhaps most notably, under Dr. Bainbridge\u2019s efforts, Furman became nationally recognized for its scholarship advising, producing record numbers of award recipients, especially winners of prestigious Fulbright, Goldwater, Mitchell and Truman Scholarships, many of whom went on to hold positions of local, state, and national prominence.<\/p>\n In her introductory writing course for first-year students, Dr. Bainbridge\u2019s insistence on concise and clear prose was non-negotiable (a standard she demanded from her faculty colleagues, too). As her former students would attest, she not only taught them how to write, but also how to think.<\/p>\n Known for her community involvement, Dr. Bainbridge was active in local organizations such as the Greenville YWCA, the Greenville Urban League, Greenville Historic Preservation and the Greenville County Library. Her love of Greenville was nowhere more evident than in her 525 bi-weekly articles on upstate history published in The Greenville News between 1999 and 2021. A staggering achievement, these columns introduced countless readers to Greenville\u2019s often fascinating and sometimes convoluted history.<\/p>\n Dr. Bainbridge was the author of seven books, notably “A Short History of Greenville County” (2024), “Attorneys & Law in Greenville County: A History” (2015), and “Academy and College: The History of the Woman\u2019s College of Furman University” (2001).<\/p>\n Dr. Bainbridge is survived by her husband Bob Bainbridge and her daughter Susie Gatlin.<\/p>\n A memorial service will be held on October 17 at 4 p.m. in the Garden Room of the Charles E. Daniel Memorial Chapel.<\/p>\n