Glenn Patton "Pat" Wright

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Glenn Patton "Pat" Wright, formerly of Charleston, died of cancer in his Cambridge, Massachusetts home May 4. He was 58 years old. Mr. Wright was born in Lancaster, South Carolina on June 18, 1946, the younger son of his late parents, Joseph Leitch Wright and Nivea Louise Patton Wright. After spending his formative years in Charlotte, North Carolina, he entered Duke University, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1968. Following a short period of teaching in the North Carolina public school system, he entered graduate school at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he earned a master's degree in English literature in 1973 and a Ph.D. in 1977. Mr. Wright began a career of university teaching at Eastern Illinois University in 1977, gaining a tenured associate professorship in 1983. There he designed and taught courses for undergraduates in modern British and American literature. As a supplement to his regular teaching responsibilities, Mr. Wright volunteered to teach Elementary and Intermediate Latin courses, when those offerings threatened to be discontinued. In the spring of 1987, he taught American poetry and drama as a Fulbright lecturer in the English Institute at the University of Warsaw in Poland. In 1989 he moved to Los Angeles to join his life partner, Michael S. Flier, and taught in the writing programs at UCLA before both moved to Cambridge in 1991. In that year he founded his own editing and publishing firm, Cambridge Wordwright and the Dipylon Press. A superior reader and editor, he oversaw the editing and publishing of many books for the University of California Press, Harvard Business School, and Harvard University Press. He had a special gift for beautiful and concise writing, and was particularly effective at transmitting his love of language, literature, and culture to students and colleagues. His luminous personality, gentle Southern manner, and warm smile welcomed friend and stranger to home and table. A passionate gardener, he especially relished the time he could spend at his home on Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire where he could putter in the garden, kayak, sail, and revel in the nature he so loved. He is survived by Michael S. Flier, his life partner of nineteen years and spouse of seven months. He leaves as well a brother, Joseph Leitch Wright, Jr., of Charleston, South Carolina; a nephew, Patrick Wright of Charleston, South Carolina; and many cousins, primarily residing in South Carolina. A funeral service will be conducted by Rabbi Albert Axelrad at Memorial Church in Harvard Yard at noon on Wednesday, May 11. A graveside service will follow immediately at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. To sign the online guestbook, go to www.jg-tc.com and click on obituaries.