Dr. Carl Richard Dolmetsch Jr.

1924 - 2019

Dr. Carl Richard Dolmetsch, Jr., 94, educator, author, journalist, died Friday, June 7. A resident of Williamsburg for over a half-century, he lived since 2000 at Williamsburg Landing retirement community. He was born in Vienna July 5, 1924 to Carl R. Dolmetsch, Sr. and Margaret Hollister. He was educated at the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the College of William & Mary in 1959, he worked for the Associated Press and taught for a decade in secondary schools and colleges in the Midwest. In 1948, he married Joan Downing of Munster, Indiana, who died in 2003 after a distinguished career at Colonial Williamsburg. He is survived by his son, Dr. Christopher Dolmetsch, of Hurricane, WV, a granddaughter, Alicia Dolmetsch Welch, and a great-granddaughter, Brenna Casey Welch of Charlottesville. His oldest son, Carl Richard Dolmetsch III, died in January 2016.He served from 1943 to 1945 in combat intelligence in the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. In 1959, he was appointed an Assistant Professor of English at William & Mary, advancing to Associate Professor in 1966 and Professor in 1968. In 1970 he was elected Chairman of the Department of English in which post he served two terms. From 1964 to 1966 he was Fulbright Professor in American Studies at the Free University of Berlin and was invited to return there in 1981-82 as a Visiting Professor. He also served as a Fulbright Professor at the University of Nuernberg-Erlangen in 1977. He served as a Lecturer for the United States Information Agency in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East during summers from 1969 to 1984.Among his many articles and books on American literary history from the Colonial period to the 1920s, the most notable are The Smart Set: A History and Anthology which became a best-seller and "Our Famous Guest": Mark Twain in Vienna, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, was awarded the Austria Prize and was translated into several European languages.Dr. Dolmetsch also served as a music critic for several decades for newspapers and music journals in this country, Canada, and Europe. He was active in the music and arts in the Tidewater area from the 1960s through his retirement. For many years after retirement he gave courses in music, literature and Austrian social history in the College's Christopher Wren program for senior citizens.Memorial arrangements are incomplete.