Playford V. Thorson II, historian at UND, dies at 86

Playford V. Thorson II could come off stern in a classroom, for he had high standards and expected students to meet them. He could be gruff, especially when confronted by pomposity, whether a freshman’s or a college dean’s.

But he could be charmingly whimsical and engaging, as well, former students and colleagues remember, often stopping in the middle of a lecture as if just then discovering the meaning of some event in the distant past. He delighted in the serendipity of learning.

Thorson, a UND history professor for 35 years who specialized in Scandinavian and immigrant studies as well as the broad sweep of modern European history, died Thursday in Grand Forks. He was 86.

“He knew books and he brought students’ attention to books, how important they were and how to interpret them,” said Gordon Iseminger, who joined UND’s history faculty in 1962, two years after his colleague....