Craig L. Symonds: key obituary facts
Is Craig L. Symonds dead? Yes. Craig L. Symonds died on October 13, 2026, at age 79.
Cause of death: Craig L. Symonds's cause of death was reported as Cancer.
What was Craig L. Symonds known for?
He was an American historian.
More about Craig L. Symonds
Born: 19 December 1946.
Place of birth: Long Beach.
Gender: male.
Occupation: military historian, historian, university teacher.
Nationality: United States.
Education: University of Florida, University of California, Los Angeles.
Employer: Naval War College, United States Naval Academy.
Awards: Lincoln Prize.
Also known as: Craig Lee Symonds.
Craig L.
Symonds, an American naval historian whose work examined the Civil War, World War II and maritime history, died of cancer October 13, 2026, aged 79. Born in Long Beach, California, he earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA in 1967 and a master’s degree in history from the University of Florida in 1969.
His graduate thesis studied government relations and the defense of the southwestern frontier from 1784 to 1794. The United States Naval Academy appointed him assistant professor of history in 1976; he became a professor in 1985 and chaired its history department from 1988 to 1992. He retired as professor emeritus in 2005. From 2017 to 2020, he was the Distinguished Visiting Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. His books addressed naval leadership and major wartime campaigns. Lincoln and His Admirals won the Lincoln Prize, while Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings received the 2015 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature. Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay won the Gilder-Lehrman Military History Prize. In 2023, Symonds received the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.