PRESIDENT
PITZER ‘74

Gary Kates retired from Pomona College in July 2024 after 22 years as a dean and professor of history. Appointed dean in 2001, he served in the role for eight years while teaching courses on the European Enlightenment and French Revolution. After a sabbatical in 2009-2010, Kates returned to the History Department, specializing in early modern European history.

Before Pomona, Kates taught at Trinity University in San Antonio (1980-2001), where he chaired the History Department and served as interim dean of Humanities and Arts. He began his teaching career at Pitzer College in 1978 as its first alumnus faculty member.

An accomplished author, Kates has written The Cercle Social, the Girondins, and the French Revolution (1985), Monsieur d’Eon Is a Woman (1995), and The Books that Made the European Enlightenment (2022). His works have garnered critical acclaim, including praise from The New York Times.

A lifelong member of the Jewish community, Kates grew up at Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, CA, and served on the boards of Temple Beth El and the Jewish Federation in San Antonio. He and his wife, retired physician Lynne Diamond, have two children and four grandchildren