Eastern lost an experienced history professor, accomplished author and playwright, passionate teacher and award winner when Barry Daniel Riccio, a cancer treatment pioneer, lost his life to cancer in early January.

“We really feel robbed that he was taken from us,” said Anita Shelton, chair of the history department, where Mr. Riccio taught for six years.

Shelton said the university was delayed in receiving the information about Mr. Riccio’s death because it occurred in San Diego, Calif., and his wife, Kathryn H. Anthony, stayed there for several weeks to recover before returning home with the news.

Mr. Riccio, a native of Berwyn, left the department in December 1996 after the discovery of his rare form of cancer.

“When he got sick, he focused all his energy on fighting the cancer,” Shelton said. “Doctors wrote him off but he wouldn’t do that.”

Mr. Riccio began researching his illness himself with his wife. He came across an experimental treatment program that he later joined.

As one of the first patients to receive the drug Vitaxin, he was catapulted into the role of national spokesperson for the anti-angiogesis cancer treatment movement.

In his role as national spokesperson, Mr. Riccio appeared on the ABC Evening News with Peter Jennings and NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. In addition, he was interviewed by Time, The Atlanta Journal -Constitution, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The News-Gazette and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The treatment program made Mr. Riccio periodically sick, so he could not teach a regular class, but Shelton said he would attend university functions.

“I guess one of the human aspects of him was that he was a very messy man. His office was gigantic mess as well as his car, but he could always find what he needed,” Shelton said.

Mr. Riccio possessed a great passion and expertise in his profession.

Mr. Riccio made media appearances as a historian on C-Span and Focus 580, and WILL National Public Radio in Urbana.

“He was an historian of the American history of ideas,” Shelton said. “He was also very popular with students because he was one of those teachers that taught with the assumption that the students wanted to know.

“They responded to that well. The students loved him. They were always in his office or talking to him after class,” Shelton said.

Mr. Riccio taught at other universities, including the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, University of California at Berkeley, Illinois Wesleyan University and Knox College, before settling at Eastern .

Outside of the classroom, Mr. Riccio devoted much of his time and energy to writing.

In 1994, Mr. Riccio authored the book “Walter Lippman: Odyssey of a Liberal.” He and his wife were in the process of writing a book on their struggle with cancer called “Running for Our Lives: The Odyssey of Our Battle with Cancer.”

Mr. Ricco also was in the process of writing a book on America from 1975 to 2000 before his death.

In 1993, Mr. Riccio received the Carl Bode Award for the American Culture Association for an article of his published in the “Journal of American Culture.”

In addition to article and book writing, Mr. Riccio authored a play “The Review,” which was performed at the Charleston Alley Theatre in 1997.

Mr. Riccio died Jan. 10 at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, Calif. A small family gathering was held in San Diego where his ashes were scattered across the Pacific Ocean, according to a press release.

Survivors include his wife, his mother, Felicia P. Riccio, and brother, Gregory J. Riccio, both of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Memorials may be made to the Barry D. Riccio History Fund, Eastern Illinois University, Brainard House, 1548 Fourth Street, Charleston, Ill. 61920. Proceeds will be used to support an annual lecture series bringing top scholars in U.S. history from around the country to Charleston.