Category: Obituaries
RIP Tony Clunn – The Man Who Discovered the Battle of Teutoburg Forest | Bread & Circuses
August 8, 2014 ~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment
@Bread and Circuses
RIP Tony Clunn – The Man Who Discovered the Battle of Teutoburg Forest
d.m. Wesley Trimpi
April 11, 2014 ~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment
From the Stanford Report:
Stanford Professor Emeritus Wesley Trimpi died March 6 from pneumonia at Stanford University Hospital, where he had been admitted after a fall in his Woodside home. He was 85.
A professor of English at Stanford for almost 40 years, Trimpi's research began with an examination of 17th-century lyric poetry. Later in his career, he developed an interest in ancient poetic theory, examining how philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle discussed literary works.
Trimpi graduated with a BA in English from Stanford in 1950 and returned to Stanford in 1957, where he taught in the Department of English until he retired in 1992.
Trimpi's publications, which investigated both English Renaissance lyric poetry and ancient classical literature, demonstrated his passion for poetry and poetics as well as the broad scope of his academic expertise.
His first book, Ben Jonson's Poems: A Study of the Plain Style (Stanford University Press, 1962), argued that Jonson's use of a plain style allowed him access to subject matter that no other literary style of the time would. Jonson's style also helped him to become an ambassador between scholars and readers. Trimpi closely examined the prosody of Jonson's poems to prove his argument.
"Trimpi's book on Ben Jonson's poetry was pathbreaking, and remains a valuable resource," said Stanford English Professor John Bender.
Another of Trimpi's well-known works as a literary scholar is Muses of One Mind: The Literary Analysis of Experience and Its Continuity (Princeton University Press, 1983), which examines the history of literary criticism and how ancient discussions of literature borrowed their terms from mathematical, philosophical and rhetorical disciplines.
Morton Bloomfield, the late Harvard medievalist, praised the book as "a major contribution to our understanding of ancient narrative and its theory with important contributions to the history of the subject in the West."
While teaching both undergraduates and graduates, Trimpi began to analyze the critical writings of Plato, Aristotle, Horace and other Greek and Latin literary theorists. He published numerous articles and reviews in journals such as Traditio, New Literary History, The Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Classical Antiquity, Renascence and The Independent Journal of Philosophy, widening his interests to include medieval and classical literary theory.
Influential educator
Trimpi's passion for poetry was also evident in the classroom, and decades later numerous students claim him as an important influence in their lives and on their work.
A former student, Denis Logie, said Trimpi was one of his favorite teachers at Stanford. "I was an underclassman in 1959 when I took Professor Trimpi's class on poetry. It was a class I was ill prepared for. I loved poetry, but had received no formal insight or instruction in my high school," Logie said. "Professor Trimpi awakened in me an understanding and thirst and love for poetry, which has never abated. I can still hear him in my mind chanting in medieval English: Sumer is icumen in, Lhude sing, cuccu."
In addition to his love for poetry, his intellectual rigor had an influence on many students.
Kathy Hannah Eden, professor of English and classics at Columbia University, was a graduate student of Trimpi's. She dedicated her first book, Poetic and Legal Fiction in the Aristotelian Tradition (Princeton, 1986), to Trimpi. Eden remembers him as a towering figure in stature and intellect: "The questions that preoccupied him in and out of the classroom proved fundamental to understanding the deep investment of the ancients, their admirers and even their detractors, throughout the centuries in what we call 'literature' today."
Eden continues to send her students and colleagues to Trimpi's work: "Those who report back on their encounters – and there have been a fair number – regularly confess to a mind-altering experience. Wes was, without a doubt, the scholar's scholar."
Another of Trimpi's graduate students, Steven Shankman, a professor of English and classics at the University of Oregon, described him as an "exacting scholar" who explored his subject matter in profoundly original ways.
"But Trimpi was no mere theorist," Shankman said. "What gave me confidence in his intricately articulated theoretical formulations was the fact that they were grounded in the reading of poetry – in a keen and sensitive understanding of, and feeling for, poetic form as realized in specific poems by poetic masters. Trimpi, himself an accomplished poet, had a keen feel for the word, the line, and for meter; in short, for the literary particular."
As a tribute to him, Eden and Shankman edited a special issue of Hellas: A Journal of Poetry and the Humanities (Aldine Press, 1996) with the topic "In Honor of Wesley Trimpi." The issue included poems and essays by friends, colleagues and former students, all of whom found his scholarship beneficial in their own development.
A young poet
Born on Sept. 3, 1928, in New York City, Trimpi was the son of William Wesley Trimpi Sr. and Marion Bock Trimpi. His father was the son of Swiss-born William Werner Trimpi, founder of the Newark Rivet Works. In his early years he attended the Desert School in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Phillips Exeter Academy from 1943 to 1946. After graduating from Stanford, Trimpi went on to earn his PhD in English from Harvard University.
During his undergraduate years at Stanford, Trimpi wrote and published original poems in The Paris Review, Poetry and other journals. His poems also appeared in anthologies like New Poets of England and America and Poets of the Pacific: Second Series. He also published two of his own poetry collections, The Glass of Perseus (New Poetry Series, 1953) and The Desert House (R. L. Barth: Florence, Ky., 1982).
Trimpi's interest in poetry flourished as an undergraduate under the mentorship of renowned poet and critic Yvor Winters, who, in a letter to American poet Allen Tate, described Trimpi as "a very intelligent kid, and I think less likely than most to fade out."
Studying with Winters made a significant impact on Trimpi – some scholars have even called him a Wintersian in his approach to his work and his students.
Bliss Carnochan, a longtime colleague and Stanford English professor emeritus, remembered losing chess matches to Trimpi and also noted the influence of Winters on Trimpi.
"Wes was a traditional scholar, learned, impatient with anything he thought sloppy or faddish. As a student of Winters, he [Wes] held strong opinions about literary values. Like Winters, he was a powerful personality; he attracted devoted students as well as dissenters. … But even dissenters could not doubt his critical ability."
One of the last articles Trimpi published was a study of his early mentor. "Yvor Winters and the Educated Sensibility in Antiquity" appeared in The International Journal of the Classical Tradition (Fall, 2001).
Trimpi's fellowships and awards include one from the American Council of Learned Societies for 1963-64, and in 1985-86 he was named to the first group of scholars to spend a year at the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities in Malibu, Calif. He also gave a series of lectures on Coleridge at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
Trimpi is survived by his daughter Erica Light and son-in-law Martin Light; grandsons Matthew Light (Mikaela) and Jonathan Light (Jade), and great-granddaughter, Juliette Light; also, by his daughter Alison Corcoran and son-in-law Robert Corcoran; his brother, Michael L. Trimpi; his sister, Abigail M. Kellogg; and by his former wife, the poet Helen Pinkerton Trimpi. […]
Wesley Trimpi, professor emeritus of English at Stanford, dead at 85
d.m. James Isbell Armstrong
December 19, 2013 ~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment
From the Valley News:
James Isbell Armstrong, President Emeritus of Middlebury College and Classicist, died on Monday, Dec. 16, 2013, at the age of 94 at his home in Hanover. Armstrong was born to William Park Armstrong, Jr. and Rebekah Sellers Purves on April 20, 1919, in Princeton, N.J. as the youngest of six children. His father was Professor of New Testament Greek and Exegesis at the Princeton Theological Seminary. He attended Miss Fine's School, the Princeton Country Day School, the Taft School and Princeton University where he graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1941. Upon graduation, Armstrong served for five and half years in the Army, largely in the Pacific Theater beginning in Hawaii and ending in Manila. He participated in the landing at Leyte and was honorably discharged at the rank of Captain in 1946. After WWII, Armstrong assisted with the Returning Veterans Program at Princeton University where he was offered a teaching fellowship (early Woodrow Wilson Fellow) and received his Ph.D. in Classics (1949). He married Carol Penrhyn Aymar of Darien, Conn. on Nov. 1, 1942. In his judgment and that of many others it was the best venture of his life. She became the still point in the turning wheel for the rest of his personal and professional life. In 1947, Armstrong began a career in teaching and administration at Princeton where he was a member of the Classics Department and a Homeric scholar; there he rose to the rank of Associate Professor (1960) and served as Assistant and Associate Dean of the Graduate School (1958-62). These years were enriched by a year teaching at Indiana University (1949-50) and a Senior Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome (Prix de Rome, 1955-56). In 1951, Armstrong was recalled to active duty and served for a year in the Korean War.
In 1963, Armstrong was appointed President of Middlebury College where he and Carol served for 12 years. Under his leadership the College grew in stature and size, helping to create the international reputation as a premier liberal arts institution that Middlebury enjoys today. During these years Bates College, Grinnell College and his alma mater recognized his contributions to higher education, awarding Armstrong honorary degrees. Middlebury followed suit during his years as President and Director of the Dana Foundation (1975-81). Armstrong also served as trustee at Princeton University and the Hazen Foundation, as a member of the advisory council of the Braitmayer Foundation and as a director at Merrill Lynch.
Armstrong and his wife Carol moved to a continuing care retirement community in 1991 as early residents of the newly built Kendal at Hanover. They enjoyed joining with fellow residents to build and develop their community and improve Kendal's facilities. Armstrong served as Interim Executive Director in 1995 and also on its Board of Directors. Their beloved farm and friends in Maine were their anchor to windward from the early years of their marriage. Nurturing three children, growing a vegetable garden, haying, wooding, flying a Cessna 150, baking apple pies in the wood stove, hooking rugs and caring for a 150-year-old farm house were the natural counterpoint to their educational pursuits.
Armstrong was predeceased by his daughter, Cary Tall Rothe. He is survived by his wife of 71 years, Carol Aymar Armstrong (Hanover, N.H.); his children, James I. Armstrong, Jr. (Williamsburg, Va.) and Elizabeth L. Armstrong (Lewisburg, Pa.); and six grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014, at 2 p.m. at Kendal at Hanover. Memorial donations may be made to the Cadbury Fund of Kendal at Hanover (Brent Edgerton, Associate Executive Director, (603) 643-8900 or BEdger@kah.kendal.org) or Middlebury College.
via: James Isbell Armstrong
d.m. Lawrence Richardson
July 26, 2013 ~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 1 Comment
From the News and Observer:
Lawrence Richardson, Jr.
December 2, 1920 – July 21, 2013
Lawrence Richardson, Jr., died late July 21, 2013 in the Pavilion at Croasdaile Village after a very short illness. He lived a long and wonderful life, and he was lucid and productive to the end. Born December 2, 1920 in Altoona, PA, he was educated at Yale (A.B. with philosophical orations, 1942; Ph.D. in Classical Studies, 1952). But his heart was always in Italy, the center of his prolific scholarship, and at Duke University, where he taught in the Department of Classical Studies from 1966 through his retirement in 1991. Only in 2008 did macular degeneration stop him from going to his office daily, and even through the week of his death he continued to read Latin, correspond with former students, friends, and colleagues, and pursue scholarly projects in his retirement community at Croasdaile. He was a gentle, generous person, famous among friends for his love of convivial companionship and gardening, and known to many for his genteel affability as he walked daily to Duke's East Campus. He will be sorely missed, even though his numerous scholarly works remain to represent his erudition, wit, and life devoted to the humanities.
He spent many years in Rome and the Bay of Naples, Italy. Larry arrived first in post-war Italy as a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in 1948, a fascinating experience he recently described in The American Academy 1947-54. Reopening & Reorientation: A Personal Reminiscence (published in 2013, when he was 92). He returned to the American Academy repeatedly, as a field archaeologist working at Cosa (1952-55), Classicist in Residence (1977), and Mellon Professor-in-Charge of its School of Classical Studies (1980-81), as well as during summers. He served the Academy as a Trustee, on various committees such as the Library, and in many other ways. He served on the editorial board of the Associazione Internazionale "Amici di Pompei" ("Friends of Pompeii). He has published numerous articles, reviews, and books, including A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (1992), Pompeii: an Architectural History (1988), A Catalog of Identifiable Painters of Ancient Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae (2000), and Pompeii: The Casa dei Dioscuri and its Painters (1955). He is a joint author of Cosa II: The Temples of the Arx (1960), and Cosa III: The Buildings of the Forum (1993), helping to publish the material from the site at which he first excavated.
He was a recipient of Fulbright, Sterling and Guggenheim Fellowships. He was a former president of the Archaeological Institute of America (North Carolina Society), a member of the AIA, the American Philological Association, and the Academy of Literary Studies. In 2012 he received the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement in recognition of his myriad contributions to archaeology through his fieldwork, publications, and teaching.
Although Larry taught also at Yale University and at the University of North Carolina, his real home other than Italy was in Durham and at Duke, where he mentored countless students and numerous colleagues from his arrival in 1966. He served as chairman of the Department of Classical Studies in 1966-69, and again in the 1980s. He was in his office daily from mid-morning until after 6, in early years accompanied by one or two of his dear Airedales. His door was always open, and he never seemed too busy to answer a question; he offered his full attention, and then, without a hint of having been bothered, he turned seamlessly back to whatever he had been doing. His personal library was vast and generously loaned; his knowledge seemingly even greater, and just as generously shared. One of his happiest courses was Latin Prose Composition, and he was often seen patiently working with individual students over a translation of a contemporary news piece into the Latin of Cicero. Many of those undergraduates have gone on to careers in medicine, law, or other non-Classical pursuit, but each vividly recalls Latin Prose Comp with Professor Richardson.
Larry was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Dr. Emeline Richardson. He leaves to mourn him innumerable colleagues, students, and friends, whose lives he enriched. He was well cared for at Croasdaile where he continued to learn to his last days, introduced by devoted visitors to Italian soccer and other non-Classical topics. In keeping with his request, there will be no service. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the Richardson Graduate Travel Fund, and sent to the Department of Classical Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0103.
via: Lawrence Richardson Jr.
d.m. Spiros Iacovides
July 3, 2013 ~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 1 Comment
From inews (nothing in English yet):
Σε ηλικία 90 ετών έφυγε χτες από τη ζωή ο αρχαιολόγος και ακαδημαϊκός Σπύρος Ιακωβίδης, ειδικός σε θέματα μυκηναϊκής αρχαιολογίας, ο οποίος είχε πραγματοποιήσει ανασκαφές στην περιοχή των Αθηνών, στην Ελευσίνα, την Πύλο, τη Θήρα, την Περατή, τον Γλα και τις Μυκήνες.
Ο Σπύρος Ιακωβίδης γεννήθηκε το 1923 στην Αθήνα. Πήρε δίπλωμα αρχαιολογίας
του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών το 1946 και διδακτορικό το 1962. Διετέλεσε Επιμελητής Αρχαιοτήτων (1952-1954), δίδαξε αρχαιολογία στα Πανεπιστήμια Αθηνών (1970-1974), Marburg (1976-1977), Heidelberg (1977) και University of Pennsylvania (1979-1991) και υπήρξε μέλος του Ινστιτούτου Προχωρημένων Σπουδών στο Princeton, ΗΠΑ (1977-1978).
Συνέγραψε, μεταξύ άλλων, τα βιβλία: Η Μυκηναϊκή Ακρόπολις των Αθηνών (1962), Περατή (1969-1970), Αι Μυκηναϊκαί Ακροπόλεις (1973), Vormykenische und Mykenische Wehrbauten (1977), Late Helladic Citadels on Mainland Greece (1988), Γλας Ι (1989), Γλας ΙΙ (1998), Gla and the Kopais (2001), Ανασκαφές Μυκηνών ΙΙΙ. Η νοτιοδυτική συνοικία (με συμμετοχή συνεργατών, 2013). Δημοσίευσε σαρανταοκτώ άρθρα σε επιστημονικά περιοδικά, πραγματοποίησε διαλέξεις σε 90 περίπου Πανεπιστήμια, Μουσεία και επιστημονικά σωματεία στην Ελλάδα, Γερμανία, ΗΠΑ, Αυστρία, Αγγλία, Βέλγιο, Καναδά, Κύπρο, Ιρλανδία, Ισπανία, Αυστραλία, Ελβετία.
Μετείχε σε 65 περίπου επιστημονικές συναντήσεις στην Ελλάδα και το εξωτερικό (1971-2002). Επί Κατοχής κατατάχθηκε στις Ομάδες Ελλήνων Ανταρτών υπό τον Ναπολέοντα Ζέρβα και τιμήθηκε με το Μετάλλιο Εθνικής Αντιστάσεως, και τον Μέγα Ταξιάρχη του Φοίνικος
Διετέλεσε συνεργάτης στην Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους (1970) και στην Ägäische Bronzezeit (1987). Υπήρξε μέλος της Εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας, της Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, της Βρετανικής Αρχαιολογικής Σχολής Αθηνών, της Society of Antiquaries του Λονδίνου, της Société de Préhistoire Française, του Γερμανικού Αρχαιολογικού Ινστιτούτου, της Ιστορικής και Εθνολογικής Εταιρείας, εταίρος του Σεμιναρίου Αρχαιολογίας του Πανεπιστημίου της Columbia, τακτικό μέλος της Ακαδημίας Αθηνών (Έδρα Αρχαιολογίας, 1991), Γραμματεύς επί των Πρακτικών της Ακαδημίας (2000-2003), Πρόεδρος αυτής (2004) και επόπτης του Κέντρου Ερεύνης της Αρχαιότητος της Ακαδημίας Αθηνών (1993 έως τον θάνατό του). Επίσης υπήρξε Ξένος Εταίρος της Accademia Nationale dei Lincei (Ρώμη), επίτιμο μέλος της Αυστριακής Ακαδημίας Επιστημών στην Τάξη Φιλοσοφίας και Ιστορίας (Βιέννη), Επίτιμος Διδάκτωρ της Αρχαιολογίας του Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, ΗΠΑ, και του Πανεπιστημίου Κύπρου.
via: Πέθανε ο ακαδημαϊκός Σπύρος Ιακωβίδης (inews)