BLACKSBURG, Va. (WVTF) – Civil War historian, author and retired Virginia Tech professor James “Bud” Robertson died Saturday, according to an announcement from the university.  Robertson was 89.

Robertson grew up in Danville.  During the 100th anniversary of the Civil War, he was tapped by President John F. Kennedy to serve as executive director of the United States Civil War Centennial Commission.  He joined the faculty of Virginia Tech in 1967.

In 1999, Robertson became the founding director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech.  He retired from the university in 2011.  During the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the war, Robertson served as an executive committee member of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission.

Robertson authored more than 20 books and penned the definitive biography on Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.