Donald Royse, architect and urban designer, 93

Donald Royse, a professor emeritus of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, died Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, surrounded by family at his home (which he designed) overlooking Lake Washington in Seattle. He was 93.

02.23.26

Images from on and around the WashU campuses.

The pulpit and the patriot: How religion fueled the American Revolution

In the years leading up to the Revolution, Protestant preachers, sometimes referred to as the “black-robed regiment,” used biblical texts and spiritual ideas to reframe the treasonous act of rebellion into righteous moral duty, according to Mark Valeri, vice director of the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis.