Michael Sugrue
Michael Joseph Sugrue (February 1, 1957 – January 16, 2024) was an American historian and university professor known for his engaging lectures and later online popularity.
Born in New York City to an Irish Catholic family, Sugrue grew up attending parochial schools. He earned a BA in history from the University of Chicago in 1979 and then completed his MA, MPhil, and PhD in history at Columbia University; his doctorate focused on South Carolina College and the education of its elite, including its president and slavery-related issues.
Sugrue taught at numerous institutions, including the City College of New York, Columbia University, Manhattan College, New York University, Hampton University, and Touro College. He was a Mellon postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University from 1992 to 1994 and then spent more than a decade at Princeton University as the Behrman Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Council on the Humanities and as a humanities lecturer.
In 2004, Sugrue became a professor of history at Ave Maria University, where he chaired the history department and taught for about twenty years, later retiring around 2021. During his career, he also taught and contributed to The Great Courses, lecturing on Machiavelli and other Western thinkers.
Sugrue’s online fame began in 2020 when his daughter, Genevieve Sugrue, started posting his 1992 lectures on YouTube. The videos attracted millions of views and were described as an internet phenomenon during the COVID-19 lockdowns. He continued to share lectures and discussions online.
A Catholic, Sugrue once defeated grandmaster Bent Larsen in chess at age 17. He was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in 2011 and underwent chemotherapy. He passed away on January 16, 2024, in Naples, Florida, from complications related to prostate cancer. He is survived by three children.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:50 (CET).