George W. Spencer

George Wooley Spencer (1939, Maryland, USA — 19 Jan 2021, DeKalb, Illinois, USA) was an American historian who was extensively written on Tamil culture and Chola Empire history since he presented his PhD thesis at University of California, Berkeley, ​“Royal Leadership and Imperial Conquest in Medieval South India : The Naval Expedition of Rajendra Chola I, c. 1025 A.D.” in 1967.

Initially trained in East and Southeast Asian history, he specialized in pre-modeen history of South Asia, especially southern India, teaching Indian civilization and culture at Northern Illinois University, Department of History, where his wife, Elaine Glovka, taught modern German and European history.

Spencer also taught several undergraduate and graduates courses on early and modern histories of Asia, United States history to 1865, and the histories of the Indian subcontinent and Japan. He was selected to be the department Chair from 1990 to 1995, and again from 1999 to 2003, retiring from NIU in 2004.

An avid traveler through India and Asia, he was also devoted to environmental and social justice issues, in particular in nature conservacy in the American Pacific Northwest.