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| Jeff Haight | |
Jeff Haight, former owner of Gibson's Bookstore, Concord, N.H., died January 20. He was 82. Michael Herrmann, the bookshop's current owner, posted on Facebook: "Sad news to relate. Jeff Haight, owner of Gibson's from 1977-1994, has passed away. A great friend and a great book lover. We will miss him terribly."
After attending Hamilton College and earning his Ph.D. in history at the University of Rochester, Haight lived in New York City, where he was a professor at Queens College. A position at the now defunct Windham College brought him to Vermont in the 1970s.
Haight was also a bookseller for many years, and in 1977 purchased Gibson's Bookstore from the late Bruce Luneau, who had owned the business since 1961. In 2012, Shelf Awareness featured a photo of the three owners--representing 50 years of bookstore stewardship--who happened to be in the store at the same time on December 23. Herrmann had called it a "Festivus miracle."
During his years in New Hampshire, Haight taught at multiple universities, including the University of New Hampshire, both the Durham and Manchester campuses; New England College; and Franklin Pierce University. His obituary in the Concord Monitor noted: "A teacher to his core, he was still lecturing and grading papers in late December."