Joseph Fewsmith III, age 76, of Cohasset, Massachusetts, passed away on November 4, 2025. A deeply respected and prolific scholar of Chinese politics, as well as a beloved teacher, he was a professor at Boston University for 34 years, having just retired in June as Professor Emeritus of International Relations and Political Science at the Pardee School of Global Studies. He had also been an active Associate of the Fairbank Center for China Studies at Harvard.

He was born in Cleveland on May 9, 1949, to parents Joseph Fewsmith Jr., and Helen (Gorrell) Fewsmith of Shaker Heights, Ohio. Joseph earned his bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. After several years working as a China analyst in Washington for the federal government, he acheived his true personal and intellectual aspiration in a return to academia as a professor at BU in 1991. He was the author of seven books on China and numerous published articles, editor of several other books and professional periodicals, and presented many papers and lectured on his research, ideas, and analysis internationally. Joseph Fewsmith will be mourned and missed by countless colleagues, scholars, students, and friends not only here and in China, where he travelled to annually, but also around the world. One of his greatest joys was inspiring and helping students on their own intellectual and career paths, especially in the area of Asia studies.

Joseph leaves behind his devoted wife of 39 years, Irene Kiedrowski; his beloved son Andrew; sister Virginia McBride; nieces Erin and Shannon and their children; and grandchildren Rose Princesmith and August Fewsmith. He was predeceased by his deeply beloved daughter Stephanie Fewsmith, who passed away of cancer in 2023 at the age of 34.

He loved his family above all else, took his wife and children on travels spanning the U.S. and the globe, imbuing them with a love of the world in all its cultural, historical, and natural beauty and glory. He wished for his remains to be scattered in Maine at the site where he had spent many summers camping and hiking with his son Andrew, now a state park ranger in California.

Donations in his name may be made to the Boston University Center for the Study of Asia (BUCSA) bu.edu/asian/ , WBUR wbur.org/ , the National Park Service nps.gov/index.htm or the Cohasset Appalachia Service Project (Cohasset ASP) cohassetasp.org/