Norman Nathan

1915 - 2013
Professor Norman Nathan passed away peacefully on June 11, 2013, in Arlington, Virginia. He was born on November 19, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Michael and Fannie Nathan. He had an older brother, Leonard Post, and two older sisters, Sylvia Kurtzman and Dora Bernstein, all of whom predeceased him.

Dr. Nathan graduated from A.J. Demarest High School in 1932 and received his BA in English from New York University in 1936. In 1938 he earned his MA from NYU, and in 1947 he defended his dissertation on Blake and earned his PhD in English from NYU.

On July 21, 1940, he married Frieda Agin of Union City, New Jersey, to whom he was devoted until her passing in 2008. Together they had three daughters, Linda (Richard) Kuzmack, Michele Nathan (Lee Herring), and Lois Nathan. He also leaves behind seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

In 1949 the family moved from West New York, New Jersey, to Utica, New York, where Dr. Nathan began a long career as an English professor at Utica College of Syracuse University. In 1968 the family moved to Boca Raton, Florida, where he continued his teaching career at Florida Atlantic University, retiring in 1993 because of his failing eyesight. The title Professor Emeritus was conferred on him in 1994. In 1996 he and his wife moved to Arlington, Virginia, to be near their two oldest daughters.

During his long academic career Dr. Nathan enjoyed visiting professorships at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, College of the Virgin Islands, and Nevada Southern. He became a local TV personality in Utica with a 2-year weekly program on Shakespeare. During his FAU years he gave a 10-part lecture series on a local channel. Dr. Nathan was an avid and prolific writer. His publications include 6 books, 62 scholarly articles, 40 short stories, and over 550 poems.

Among other things, he will be remembered for his kindness, honesty, amazing memory, vast store of knowledge, melodic voice, and love for his family and friends.

Expressions of sympathy can be e-mailed to his family at ProfNNathan@hotmail.com. Contributions in his memory can be made to the Macular Degeneration Center at the Wilmer Eye Institute (Wilmer Development Office, Wilmer 112, 600 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD, 21287).