25,
1936
30,
2025
Neil Sherwood Lewis passed away on September 30, 2025, at the age of 89.
Neil, the son of Jack and Catherine (Duffy) Lewis, was born in Fargo, North Dakota on May 25, 1936. The family, which ultimately included Neil’s beloved siblings, John, Jim, Bill, and Sally, moved to Portland, Oregon in 1938. Many special times were spent on the Oregon Coast near Pacific City exploring sand dunes, caves, and coves with his siblings and family dogs.
Neil graduated from Central Catholic High School and served in the Army and Oregon National Guard before attending Portland State University (1958–63). He proudly played for the PSU football team as a small, but mighty guard (sustaining concussions and broken noses but enjoying the games and his teammates). He studied abroad at the American University in Cairo (1963–64) where his interest in Middle Eastern history, Arabic, and travel by camel deepened.
He received his master’s degree from Harvard University. While at Harvard he met his soulmate, Suzanne Murphy. This was due to a fortuitous connection with Suzanne’s Goucher College friend who was in Neil’s graduate school program at Harvard’s Middle East Center. Sensing chemistry, Suzanne suggested to Neil that they attend a Scottish dance class. He enthusiastically agreed and the two soon married on May 30, 1965. Their first daughter, Katie, was born in Boston in June 1966 and was likely the youngest person in attendance at Neil’s Harvard commencement.
The family moved to Ann Arbor while Neil and Suzanne attended the graduate school at the University of Michigan. Neil earned his doctorate and Suzanne earned her master’s degree in German. Neil was the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to facilitate his dissertation research (German Policy in Southern Morocco During the Agadir Crisis, 1911). The family lived in Villiprot, Germany and Rabat, Morocco while Neil used the nearby archives.
Neil became a faculty member in the history department at University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point in 1971. The birth of his second daughter Anna in July 1973 brought great excitement and happiness to the family.
While he taught courses on U.S., World, and German history, his area of expertise was Middle Eastern history and one of his favorite courses to teach was about Arab / Israeli relations. He was often called upon to provide insights to the local news media and community groups when significant events occurred in the Mideast. He was fortunate to find his calling in life as an educator. He remained intellectually curious throughout his career, genuinely enjoyed his colleagues, and found his interactions with students to be incredibly gratifying. He served several terms as Chair of the Department of History. He helped establish UWSP’s international studies major 1988 and served as coordinator for approximately a decade. He retired from UWSP in 2003.
Students often described his courses as demanding and rigorous but also expressed admiration for his ability to keep those challenging classes interesting and vibrant.
He won several honors from UWSP during his 30+ years as a professor: the 1980 Excellence in Teaching Award (he was especially proud of this award and would often show it to guests and staff at All Saints Memory Care); 1984 University Campus Leadership and Advisor of the Year Awards, a 1991 University Leadership Adviser Award; and the 2003 School of Education Service Award. Additionally, he was the recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award from the Wisconsin Association for the Promotion of History in 1988.
An adventurous traveler throughout his life, he led two UWSP cycling trips through the British Isles and Ireland, co-led a UWSP Holocaust history trip, a UWSP semester abroad in Munich with Suzanne and Anna in 1985, and loved his sabbatical in Turkey in 1995. He was a gifted linguist and spoke German and Arabic well (and French and Turkish fairly well).
An avid cyclist, he could often be spotted on the streets of Stevens Point, even in slippery winter conditions, sometimes with a dog trotting along beside him. All this cycling likely contributed to his muscular legs, a feature of his which sometimes generated compliments from strangers.
Neil and Suzanne moved to Madison in 2016 to be closer to their kids and grandchildren. Neil was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2018. When the disease progressed, he moved into All Saints Memory Care in March 2023. A fall on September 16 hastened his decline. Family and friends had time to share their messages of love and reflect on wonderful memories prior to his peaceful death.
Even as the disease of dementia slowly robbed him of his memories, he remained, until quite recently, a calm, cheerful and positive gentleman. He was still pleased to go on outings in and around Madison where he particularly enjoyed good food, live music, and the presence of cute kids and dogs.
Dogs were a constant source of joy throughout his life. Neil’s family had many dogs during his formative years and as an adult he owned Siggy, Kelly, Tikki, Webster, Murphy, Kerry, and Rosie. But his true canine buddy was Duffy. A smart, snuggly, and agile companion for more than 10 years, Duffy sadly passed in 2021. However, a custom designed toy version of her was a comfort to him. People would often mistake the toy version for a real dog and Neil made sure to continue to treat her well.
An exemplary husband, father, grandfather, father-in-law, teacher, neighbor, and friend, Neil was a wise, kind, and steady presence who always made life more colorful and pleasant. His 60-year marriage to Suzanne was a model of mutual respect, goodwill, and unabashed enjoyment of each other’s company.
As the adoring (and adored) grandfather of Lily and Jack, he was full of energy and patience and could be counted on for imaginative playtimes, animated readings of favorite books, fun trips, and exuberant cheering from the sidelines of soccer games and track meets.
Neil was a perfectionist when it came to shoveling, weeding, and raking (tracking on the family calendar how many bags of yard waste were taken to the dump or the daily total of required shoveling sessions). He often eschewed technology like snowblowers, leaf blowers, and dishwashers, preferring the results of a job done by hand, with care and precision.
He remained loyal to the Packers through their ups and downs, as well as his favorite signature scent from the 1980s, Drakkar Noir.
These were a few of his favorite things: Smithwick’s, Point and Central Waters beer, Bloody Marys, butterscotch milkshakes, carrot cake, The Muppets, 60 Minutes, CBS Sunday Morning, The Christian Science Monitor’s coverage of the Middle East, authors James Herriott and John Le Carre, The Sound of Music, Irish music (particularly “I’m a Rambler, I’m a Gambler”), To Serve Them All My Days, The Carpenters, Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach, and making mischief through his imagined lawyer alter-ego Anthony J. Badjegowicz.
While dementia was a terrible thief, one silver lining is that he was mercifully unaware of the devastation in Gaza, the attacks on Harvard, threats to the First Amendment, and the resignation of the entire J. Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Jack and Catherine Lewis, and his siblings, Jim Lewis, John Lewis, and Sally Schoning. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne; daughters Katie Reiser and Anna Lewis; sons-in-law Ben Reiser and John Sabljak; grandchildren Lily, Jack, and Destiny; brother Bill (Carol) Lewis; sisters-in-law Gail Lewis and Mary Lewis; and his nieces and nephews Marissa, Daniel, Laura, Mike, Tracy, Richard, and Kim, along with many cousins.
The family would like to sincerely thank the staff at All Saints Memory Care who constantly amazed them with their kindness, patience, and respect. This hardworking team showed genuine compassion for Neil and the entire family, even when things became more challenging with his care. Additionally, the staff from Agrace Hospice provided comfort and gentle care during his final months and made his final days as peaceful as possible.
The family is holding a memorial service/celebration of Neil’s rich life at Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Road in Madison on Sunday, January 3, 2026 at 10:30 am (with lunch to follow). The memorial will be livestreamed a link will be provided here.
If you would like to make a donation in Neil’s memory, please consider:
Dane County Human Society (or your local humane society)
The recently established Neil and Suzanne Lewis Study Abroad Fund at UWSP
https://give.uwsp.edu/page/uwsp-foundation-homepage
Agrace Hospice
A Palestinian support organization like Dahnoun Mutual Aid
https://chuffed.org/project/115245-dahnoun-mutual-aid
Alzheimer’s Association
We understand that money may be tight. Other ways to honor Neil would be to pick up a good book, catch an episode of Downton Abbey on PBS, take your dog on a “romp” (as he would call it), brush up on your history and geography, vote in every election, pick out a special greeting card and send it to someone dear, or toast a close friend with a glass of Smithwick’s.
Please share your memories of Lewis by posting in his guestbook.
Cress Funeral & Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Road Madison
(608) 238-3434