July 13, 1940 - December 18, 2025
Armand Shelby La Potin was born on July 13, 1940, in New York City to Nathan and Rose (Metz) La Potin. From his father, an international attorney, and his mother, committed to children and home, committed to children and home, Armand acquired a Jewish sensibility embracing compassion. His big sister Barbara, a future elementary teacher with a love of children, doted on Armand.
As an undergraduate at Bard College, Armand encountered some of the era's leading cultural icons. He studied literature under Ralph Ellison, author of the Invisible Man, an acclaimed novel about race in America. At the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Armand received at PhD in American History where he and his first wife Tina traded off babysitting hours - but not politics - with fellow graduate students Lynne and Dick Cheney.
As the 1960s drew to a close, Armand accepted a position in the SUNY Oneonta History Department. Rising to the rank of full professor and taking on diverse roles, he remained at the college until his 2003 retirement. Falling in love with and marrying Carolyn Haessig, an accomplished SUNY Oneonta professor of Human Ecology, gifted Armand with a new beginning. A strong, sensible, stable, loving Midwestern woman, Carolyn brought new happiness to his life.
After her retirement, Carolyn and Armand made their home in winter-free Tucson, Arizona. Until the end, Armand would return to Oneonta once or twice a year, typically for close to a week at a time. Annually, he would visit FDR's Hyde Park home with his friend and longtime colleague Bill Simons.
He was a master teacher devoted to his students. In addition to memorable American history surveys, Armand taught highly regarded courses concerning the Colonial era, American Revolution, and Native Americans. His dramatic lectures could transport mesmerized undergraduates back to the 1692 Salem witchcraft hysteria or the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. His senior seminars engaged history majors in nuanced and animated discussion of historiographic interpretation. From his graduate courses, Armand armed future historians and teachers with research, analytic, and pedagogic tools. As the years rolled by, appreciative former students remained in contact, evolving into friends.
A prolific scholar, Armand delivered papers at numerous academic conferences. His articles appeared in prominent disciplinary journals. Armand authored three seminal books: The Minisink Patent: A Study in Colonial Landholding and the Problems of Settlement in Eighteenth Century New York, an outgrowth of his doctoral dissertation; Native American Voluntary Organizations, an examination of a neglected dimension of tribal peoples; and Hugh Lenox Scott, 1853-1934 Reluctant Warrior, the definitive biography of an important American life.
Based on years of meticulous scholarship and the beneficiary of National Endowment for the Humanities support, the Hugh Scott biography presents the life and times of a significant military leader - field officer, Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and Army Chief of Staff - who was also a student of tribal cultures. Armand imbued the Scott saga with telling interpretation, revealing detail, and narrative verve. Beyond thorough investigation of relevant archives, Armand travelled to remote areas of the extant frontier associated with Scott's postings and campaigns. With sensitivity and clarity, Armand captured Scott's attempts, often foiled by larger forces and his own paternalism, to engage Native Americans by diplomatic negotiations, rather than war, and to preserve their traditions.
During the tenure of SUNY Oneonta President Alan Donvan, Armand evolved into an administrative jack of all trades. Supervising interns, he made trips to government, non-profit, and commercial sites in New York City, displaying a native's virtuosity in navigating urban traffic. Armand brought order to the college catalogue. With his future wife Carolyn, he sought to rationalize assessment and prevent its metastasizing. Working with Director Robert Morrissey, Armand contributed considerably to the growth of the Graduate Program during its period of ascent.
Generous with his time and energy, Armand was active in civic and community initiatives. Following a robust campaign, featuring him calling on and dialoguing with every registered vote in Ward 5, Armand won election to the Oneonta City Council in 1983. As a councilman, he represented his constituents conscientiously and effectively, blocking a misguided project that would have diminished the quality of residential life.
Trains, cars, big ships, and shoe leather took Armand on many adventures. His journeys extended to the Arctic Circle. With his dear compatriot Gerrit Gantvoort, he rode the rails throughout the U.S. and Canada. Travelling by ocean liner, Armand and Carolyn explored the Caribbean and the Pacific Coast, developing a particular attachment to the seashells on Oregon beaches. Powered by a purposeful gait, Armand motivated walking partners to keep up. Oneonta pedestrianism oft concluded with Armand and companions rotating the ice cream bill at the Golden Guernsey.
Armand's kindnesses, large and small, were legion. A longtime volunteer for the Oneonta Friends of Christmas, he delivered meals to neighbors, friends, and total strangers. He devoted many volunteer hours to a Tucson food pantry. In ordered to assist those with Parkinson's disease, he underwent formal training. Despite his own serious health issues, Armand endured the long trip from Arizona to Oneonta in March 2025 helping to sustain a friend felled by a heart attack through a demanding rehab.
From his hospice bed in Tucson, Armand, near the very end, telephoned that friend, now recovered, and began by saying, "Sit down - I'm dying. I am not afraid, and I am not in pain." Soon thereafter, Armand died on Thursday, December 18, 2025, of kidney failure.
Family was precious to Armand. In addition to his beloved wife, Carolyn La Potin, survivors include: daughters Gabrielle Giordano (John) and Nicole Manni (Michael); grandchildren Nicholas Giordano, Adam Giordano, Isabelle Giordano, Jack Michaud (Kimberly), Avery Manni, and Remy Manni; great-granddaughter Stella Michaud; stepsons Matthew Haessig and Robert (Brittany) Haessig; step-grandchildren Broden Haessig and Marison Haessig; and former wives Rae La Potin and Tina Morris. A remembrance gathering for Armand will be held in Tucson, Arizona. Those so inclined might consider a donation to one of Armand's signature charities. He supported The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (PO Box 5014, Hagerstown MD 217410). Information about contributing to the student scholarship Armand established to honor his mother Rose Metz La Potin is available at https://suny.oneonta.edu/suny-oneonta-foundation through the SUNY Oneonta Foundation.
Devoted family man and friend, SUNY Oneonta professor of history, administrative jack-of-all trades, prolific author, city councilman, numismatist, chef, Keeshond whisperer, railroad maven, restorer of classic cars, cruise ship adventurer, philanthropist - Armand bequeaths a rich legacy, one of generosity and a life well lived.
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