Michael Bliss has died at age 76. Bliss was an award-winning historian, author and long-time resident of Bessborough Drive in Leaside. Bliss was known as one of the country’s leading intellectuals and wrote 14 books on an array of subjects, from business to politics, including the Governor General’s Award–nominated Plague: A Story of Smallpox in Montreal. His published work also includes biographies of legendary figures in the medical community, such as Harvey Cushing, William Osler, and Frederick Banting. Bliss retired from U of T’s department of history in 2006 after a nearly four-decade career during which he earned the elite rank of University Professor, an honour “conferred upon less than two percent of tenured faculty,” according to the school — CBC Acclaimed Canadian historian, author Michael Bliss dies at 76
