Angela Mitchell

Theodore Taranovski

Curnow Funeral Home & Cremation Service - Sumner

Tania Taranovski

Altogether<br/>4307 Vineland Road, Suite H-17-19, Orlando, FL 32811<br/>For more information, visit our website at <a href='www.altogetherfuneral.com'>www.altogetherfuneral.com</a><br/>Copyright © 2025 FPG Intermediate Holdco, LLC

Theodore Taranovski (known as Ted to friends and Bane to family), 82, died peacefully on January 24, 2025 in Tacoma, WA. In his last weeks, he was able to spend time with family and friends—sharing memories, saying farewells, and in true professorial style, imparting last words of wisdom, advice, and practical reminders. Ted was born in Belgrade, Serbia (then Yugoslavia) on December 11, 1942 to Radmilla Petrovic Taranovsky, a math teacher, and Kiril Fyodorovich Taranovsky, a professor of Slavic languages and poetry. After the death of his mother, Ted was raised by his father and stepmother Vera Arandjelovic Taranovsky, a Russian language teacher. In Belgrade, Ted attended Classical Gymnasium and was raised in a multilingual household (Serbian and Russian) and with an extended family of aunts that had a great influence on him. He emigrated to the US with his family at age 15, where he attended Arlington High School. He earned his undergraduate degree from UCLA and his masters and PhD in Russian History from Harvard University. While in grad school, he met his future wife Gisela, and they married in her native Germany in 1969. Following in the footsteps of a long line of scholars and teachers, Ted was a Professor of History at University of Puget Sound from 1970 until his retirement in 2009. He also taught Russian literary texts, especially the novels of Dostoevsky, which he explored in their historical and social contexts. He taught briefly at Occidental College in Los Angeles on an exchange. In 1990, he served as the Acting Director of the Kennan Institute of Advanced Russian Studies in the Woodrow Wilson Center of the Smithsonian Institution, where he hosted many influential Russian scholars and dignitaries. His writings and teachings contributed to a greater understanding of Russian history, scholarship, and culture, and he leaves a legacy of multitudes of students and colleagues influenced by his work. especially his voluminous doctoral dissertation “The Politics of Counter Reform: Autocracy and Bureaucracy in the Reign of Alexander III, 1881-1894.” In conference panels he was known for  asking probing questions and offering contrarian views, which enriched the discussions at hand. He had long-standing professional and personal contacts with scholars in Russia, and had wonderful friends there whose whole families still remember him and his visits. Ted was a voracious reader, particularly of dense history texts and science fiction/fantasy novels. He enjoyed hiking, especially in National Parks; traveling to historical sites and ruins (ask his children about the number of churches, gravesites, and battlefields they were dragged to, ahem, visited); cooking (best tacos and stir fries ever); playing chess and other games that challenged the mind; and spoiling his pets, who you would find on his lap, at his feet while he was prepping food, or devotedly at his side under the dinner table. He is survived by his beloved family including wife of 56 years, Gisela; his children Tatiana “Tania” and Alexander “Sasha” Taranovski; his grandsons Theodore “Theo” and Daniel Dowd; sister Vida (Taranovsky) Johnson and cousin Vera Rankovic and their families; and a circle of Jardetzky and Petrovic cousins. Ted was most proud of his family, with whom he shared his knowledge, wisdom, and yes, his solicited and unsolicited advice. He will long be remembered by family members for his long discourses, whether on life, history, or politics, which he argued with the younger generation. He was one of a kind. Family, friends, and colleagues are invited to a celebration of life on March 22 from 2-4pm at Franke Tobey Jones in Tacoma. Funeral services will take place in Cambridge, MA in July where Ted will be laid to rest at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation of time or money to one of the causes/organizations that Ted supported or to a similar organization in your own community: Tacoma Rescue Mission (serving unhoused people), Wolf Haven (animal/environmental organization), KBCT/KCTS9 (public radio/TV). Support for the Franciscan Hospice House, who provided thoughtful and holistic care to Ted and family in his final hours, would also be welcome.

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Theodore Taranovski Obituary | Altogether