Jacques Barzun
![Painting of Barzun titled ''With Light from a New Dawn'', 1947](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Jacques_barzun.jpg)
A professor of history at Columbia College for many years, he published more than forty books, was awarded the American Presidential Medal of Freedom, and was designated a knight of the French Legion of Honor. The historical retrospective ''From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present'' (2000), widely considered his ''magnum opus'', was published when he was 93 years old. Provided by Wikipedia