Tertius Chandler, a scholar and intellect as prolific as he was unknown, was a striking figure—tall and dressed as if to the manor born. In fact, Chandler was born into an upper class Massachusetts family. He attended Harvard and graduate school at UC Berkeley.

Following school, Chandler lived a vagabond life that would have put Kerouac to shame. He roamed the western states, Europe, and New Zealand, often traveling by foot and sleeping outside or, famously, in a cave outside Susanville. To supplement an allowance from his mother, he worked odd jobs—washing dishes (at Larry Blake’s in Berkeley), setting pins in bowling alleys, sorting radio parts, and fighting wildfires.

Chandler relentlessly researched history and population demographics in U.S. and European libraries, compiling detailed lists for use in writings containing “discoveries” based on unsubstantiated leaps. His best-known work, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, was self-published.

Chandler’s politics are not easily defined. From 1939 to 1978 he considered himself a moderate Marxist and opposed Fascism. Because he found Britain’s colonial policy deplorable, he dodged the draft in World War II. In the early 1970s by his own description he “thrashed around pretty hard in world affairs, without clearly accomplishing a great deal.” One thing he did accomplish was getting included on President Nixon’s second Enemies List, identified as No. 133. Chandler was a major contributor to the campaigns of Pete McCloskey, who challenged Nixon for the GOP nomination, and of Democratic nominee George McGovern.

In 1974, Chandler shifted his focus to local politics, volunteering for the early Berkeley campaigns of Loni Hancock, who went on to become a councilmember, mayor and California state Senator. On an anti-Proposition 13 platform which favored a land value tax rather than a property tax, Chandler ran without success for Berkeley City Council and Congress (against Ron Dellums). He was a lifelong advocate of the odd combination of Prohibition and legalized prostitution.

Late in life he obtained a Ph.D from Clayton University, an institution operating from an office in Missouri that awarded doctorates based on life experience and work. A self-described “universal historian” and “historical path-breaker,” he struggled with his lack of fame, saying in 1989 that he only wanted two things, “a publisher and to teach.”

Chandler was an avid walker and runner who proudly never drove a car. On April 21, 2000, he was hit by a car while crossing Shattuck Avenue at Virginia Street. He died a month later.

He was a scholar, a gentleman, and a lot more.