John Thomas SHAWCROSS

SHAWCROSS John Thomas, born in Arlington, New Jersey on Feb 10, 1924, died in Lexington, Kentucky on March 8, 2011. University professor and preeminent scholar of English Renaissance Literature (especially Milton and Donne), he was Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Kentucky (1979-94); Emeritus Professor since 1994. The son of the late Ernest Shawcross and Lillian Kuncken Shawcross, he was a graduate of Montclair State College (BA 1948) and New York University (MA 1950, PhD 1958), and was awarded honorary doctorates from Montclair State College (1975) and St. Bonaventure University (1995). A former president and Honored Scholar of the Milton Society of America, John was a two-time winner of the James Holly Hanford Award for the most distinguished book on Milton. A scholar of exacting standards, he was an excellent and popular teacher with broad expertise, and was the most generous of mentors to many friends, colleagues and former students across the country. He published over 200 articles in academic journals and books, and was author or editor of more than twenty books, including Complete English Poetry of John Milton (1963), With Mortal Voice: The Creation of Paradise Lost (1982), John Milton: The Self and the World (1993), The Arms of the Family: The Significance of John Milton's Family and Associates (2004), and The Development of Milton's Thought (2008). Four Festschriften were published in his honor. Previous academic appointments include Distinguished Professor of English, CUNY (1970-79); Professor of English, University of Wisconsin (1967-70) and Rutgers University (1963-67); and Instructor through Associate Professor at Newark College of Engineering, now NJIT (1948-63). For short periods John was a Visiting Professor at SUNY Stony Brook, University of Delaware, New York University, and Long Island University, as well as a Visiting Fellow at the Huntington, Newberry, and William Andrews Clark Libraries. A long-time active member of many editorial boards and associations, he received multiple awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, College English Association, South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Kentucky Philological Society, and the John Donne Society. Music lover and opera buff, John ardently supported the Lexington Philharmonic and Lexington Opera Society. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve as Lieutenant (junior grade) in the Seventh Fleet, South Pacific (New Guinea, Philippines) and as Education Officer at Brooklyn Naval Hospital. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Blanche Shawcross, his brother Ernest Shawcross and his nephew Jeffrey Shawcross. He is survived by his nephew Steven Shawcross of Alpharetta, Georgia, by his nieces Susan Crane of Hanover, New Hampshire, and Nancy Shawcross of Narberth, Pennsylvania, by his cousins Catherine Larkin, Blanche Cariddi, and Lillian Ripatrazone, and by sixteen grand-nephews and grand-nieces. Interment will follow at Glendale Cemetery in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Contributions are suggested to the Friends of Music Fund, University of Kentucky.