Robert M. Stein

Thinking of Bob today...so many times he was my entry way into literature and how literature could inform my life. One big idea he so casually presented me with is two kinds of love...Cupititas - loving someone/something for what they give us and caritas - loving someone/something for who they are. I did get to, many years after I was his student in a chance meeting on a Manhattan street, tell Bob that this understanding still informs my choices.

I was one of Bob's students at SUNY Purchase, 1979-1983. He was kind and brilliant and while this is very late, I want to say how sorry I am for your loss.

Belated condolences to the family of Bob Stein. He was my professor at Purchase. I've never forgotten him. I remember he had us type up reports with huge margins...he was brilliant, inspirational and funny ....and a wonderful human being.

Another very belated message of condolence to the family and close friends of Bob Stein. He was the guiding light of an early (1978) group of Culture & Society medievalists at Purchase. My marked up copies of Chaucer and Gawain are still on my shelves. I often wonder what he made of the double-act my friend Stacey and I put on in his office when demonstrating our required memorization of the first 20 lines of the Canterbury Tales... (Did you know you can sing it to "April Showers"?) And he...

I am deeply saddened to learn of Bob's passing. He was my professor for two semesters at Columbia in 1988-89 in one of the most memorable courses (thanks to Bob's intellect and pedagogy), that I ever took. He was a model for me, and as a literature professor, I often experience the exquisite influence of memories of Bob teaching, talking, reading. Some of his remarks echo with perfect clarity in my mind. I hadn't seen Bob since 2005, and this morning I sat down to write to him, to say "hello"...

My condolences to the Stein family. Professor Stein touched my life in 2011 when I attended his class on the Divine Comedy. I am coming to know of his passing now because I wanted to reach out and ask him questions about the lessons he taught me during that class. He has impacted my life and will not be forgotten.

I was a student of Rober Stein at Suny Purchase. It was 1987 I believe. He was so inspiring to me. I was just recalling him to a friend of mine, on how generous he was with his time and how amazingly intelligent he was. He breathed passion into his studies. And when he talked about a concept it came alive with seething clarity and definition. I can still recall his specific ideas to this day and this was almost 30 years ago.
He is remembered.

To the Stein Family,

This is a belated message, as I just now learned of Bob's passing accidentally. I will be passing through New York and wanted to look him up again after all these years. What an incredible teacher and mentor he was to me and to so many others at Columbia. I remember my first literature class with him, where me and fellow students were so exhilarated by his teaching that we spontaneously came together to write a letter to the English Department to encourage...

This message to Bob's family is extremely belated, as I just recently learned of his premature death. I'm so sorry. Bob was profoundly influential in helping form me as a serious student way back when we didn't receive grades. (Class of '81) To this day I recall key points from his fascinating Milton, Chaucer, Spenser, and medieval survey classes which I attended eagerly. The key points which he imparted are with me still, enabling me to make broad connections with many topics. On one of my...