Dr. William Mulder

Dr. William Mulder 1915 ~ 2008 Gentleman scholar, mentor, bibliophile, Mormon historian, English and American Studies professor and advocate of Indo-American scholarship and understanding, Dr. William Mulder died at home March 12, following a stroke. He was born June 24, 1915, in Haarlem, Holland, the son of Albertus and Foekje (Fanny) Visser Mulder, who immigrated to the United States in 1920. After L.D.S. High School and a Holland mission (1935-37), Dr. Mulder graduated from the University of Utah in 1940 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. While a student, he wrote for undergraduate publications, the Chronicle, Pen, and Utonian. After service as a communications officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve on Okinawa during World War II, he returned to the U of U for his Master's Degree in English in 1947. He pursued graduate studies at Harvard University in an American Civilization program and was granted a Ph.D. "with distinction" in 1955. His dissertation was published in 1957 by the University of Minnesota Press as Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia. In 1958, he edited, with the late A. Russell Mortensen, Among the Mormons: Historic Accounts by Contemporary Observers, originally published by A.A. Knopf and still in print in Sam Weller's Western Epics imprint. Dr. Mulder taught in the English Department of the U of U for 41 years, with several leaves of absence, including a 1957 teaching Fulbright at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. That experience led to his being asked to lecture in India for the U.S. Information Service and to develop the American Studies Research Center in Hyderabad (1965-68; 1979-82). With Hyderabad as a second home for the family, the years in India, full of travel, teaching and cultural exchange, led to rich memories and lifelong friendships. He was also visiting professor at BYU, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Washington, Sonoma State College, and Duke University. In 1977 he visited seven universities in Japan for the Asia Foundation to assess programs and library holdings in American Studies. For four years Dr. Mulder served on the Advisory Committee of the National Council on International Exchange of Scholars for Fulbright awards in American Studies, and for three years served as secretary-treasurer of the American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association. He delivered the Reynolds distinguished faculty lecture in 1957 ("The Mormons in American History") and received many honors and awards including: a 1976 festschrift publication entitled, Studies in American Literature (New Delhi, Oxford University Press); in 1977 the Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award from the U of U; in 1987 the Charles Redd Award in the Humanities from the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters; in 1989 the Award of Merit from the U of U Alumni Association. He was named the first Fellow of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in 1998. In 1999 the University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate and the Utah Humanities Council selected him to receive the year's Governor's Award in the Humanities. In 2005 he was the recipient of the Madeleine Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts and Humanities. He served at the U of U as editor of the Western Humanities Review and was founding director of both the Institute of American Studies and the Center for Intercultural Studies (now the Middle East Center). He was Director of Graduate Studies in the English Department and anonymous writer on various assignments for the Olpin and Gardner administrations. In retirement Dr. Mulder remained active in academic circles as president of the Utah Academy and as a member of several boards on campus and in the community, including the Reynolds Association, the Maud May Babcock Reading Arts Society, Broadway Stage, Wasatch Westerners, Weber Studies, Dialogue, and Friends of the U of U Marriott Library (chair 1993-95). In addition, he contributed to several statehood centennial publications. He supported various social, cultural, and environmental causes as well as employees and struggling scholars he and his family had encountered in India. Although he was a sympathetic observer of the local scene and wrote extensively about Mormon culture in the context of American history and literature, Dr. Mulder was not a churchgoer and expressed his views in Leaving the Fold, edited by James Ure (Signature Books, 2000). Dr. Mulder was first married in 1938 to Gweneth Gibbs Gates and later divorced. The surviving children of that marriage are R. Richard (Kathryn), Layton; J. Thomas, Salt Lake City; and Barbara Thompson (Fred), Wetumpka, Alabama. In 1961 he married Helen Louise Thomson Smith, who survives him. Their firstborn, William J. was killed at age 31 in a road accident in 1993. Surviving children, Paul M. (Darlene Casanova), Salt Lake City; Alice E. (Daniel Bedford), Ogden; former daughter-in-law, Stephennie Fullmer Mulder (Yoav di Capua), Austin, Texas; stepchildren, Emily Smith (Michael Hoffman), Salt Lake City; and Charles Smith, Ogden; grandchildren (Robert, Christopher, Jennifer, Tristan, and Skylar). Also survived by brother, Albert Mulder, Jr. (Laura), and sisters Mary Ence (Carlton) and Patricia Shoemaker (Herbert). He was preceded in death by his sister Anne Glissmeyer (Roy). The family extends deep gratitude for the comfort and care given by Jennifer, Carlos, Danny and others from Caregiver Support Network. A memorial gathering will be held at the U of U Alumni House (155 Central Campus Drive) March 29, 2008 at 2 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the U of U Marriott Library.