Charles Hugh Helmetag

Helmetag Charles Hugh Of Newtown Square, PA, formerly of Rosemont, passed away on September 1, 2025 at age 90. He is survived by his son Steven and his wife Katherine, his daughter Diana and her husband Steven K. Glanzmann, and his grandchildren Bernard and Peter Helmetag and Amanda and Anna Marie Glanzmann. He was born in Camden, NJ in 1935 and married his high school sweetheart Ruth J. Crispin. He received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in German Language and Literature in 1957 and an M.A. from the University of Kentucky in German Literature in 1959. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in German Language and Literature in 1968. He also studied at the Georg August Universität in Göttingen, Germany on a Fulbright Grant. Dr. Helmetag taught at Purdue University from 1960-62 and Villanova University from 1964-2011 where he was the department chair of Modern Languages and Literatures from 1973-1988. He published numerous articles in German literary journals including essays on Brecht, Frisch, Hasenclever, Heyse and Schnitzler, and presented papers at literature and film conferences throughout Europe and North America as well as in Australia and Japan. Dr. Helmetag also performed in several Villanova University productions of plays by Brecht, Dürrenmatt, Chekhov, Shakespeare, Sophocles and Feydeau. He was active in community theatre and was an extra in "Our Town" starring Arthur Godfrey at Bucks County Playhouse and in Martin Scorsese's film "The Age of Innocence." Charles was a great lover of music, theatre, travel, the Jersey Shore, the White Horse Village Singers, his wife Ruth, and his four beloved grandchildren, who gave him much joy.