Robert Donald Thornton

Robert Donald Thornton
Aug. 10, 1917 - Oct. 24, 2006
CHERAW -- Robert Donald Thornton, Emeritus Professor of English and State University of New York Exchange Scholar, died on October 24, 2006 in Cheraw, SC. Dr. Thornton was born on August 10, 1917 in West Somerville, MA of John William and Winifred Amelia, late longtime residents of Winchester, MA.
Professor Thornton was educated in the Winchester public schools, at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT; from which he received in 1939 the B.A. with Honors in General Scholarship and High Distinction in English; and at Western Reserve University and Harvard University, where he received M.A.s before World War II. Further studies at the University of Colorado (Boulder) Naval Japanese Language School prepared him for his overseas service with U.S. Naval Intelligence as both a translator and interrogator. With the peace he returned to Harvard for his Ph.D. in English Philology, graduating in 1949 as a Teaching Fellow and as a Dexter Fellow.
For 45 years, Dr. Thornton made a career of teaching at Harvard University, the University of Colorado, St. Stephen's Episcopal School (Austin, TX), the University of South Carolina (Columbia), Kansas State University (Manhattan), and the State University of New York at New Paltz, where he chaired the department of English and World Literature. His scholarship made him an international authority on Robert Burns and the cultural history of 18th century Scotland. Dr. Thornton was the first professor to be singled out by the Graduate School of Kansas State University as a foremost teacher; at the University of South Carolina he was the first recipient of the Donald Russell Price for illustrious scholarship. Articles, books, and such collaborations as that with the Melville Smith, Director of the Longy School of Music and with Thomas Heyward, Metropolitan Opera tenor, for the LP record of the songs of Robert Burns and Francis Hopkins brought Professor Thornton such awards as Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Grantee of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, Grantee of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, Grantee of the American Council of Learned Societies, and inclusion in 'Who's Who in America.'
Professor Thornton leaves his beloved wife of 63 years, Grace Ellen; his sons, Robert Harrington, college dean, Naugatuck, CT, and David Farrington, actor, New York City, as well as a brother, Norman Miles of Yarmouth, MA.