Georg Bernhard Tennyson

TENNYSON , Georg Bernhard
Died Saturday, May 19, 2007 at Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, CA from complications following a fire which ultimately took his life and his home. He was the adored father of Cameron Tennyson McClenahan of Woodland Hills and Holly Tennyson Hands of Dallas, Texas and the grandfather of Coleman, James, Luke and Sarah Ha nds.
Born and raised in Washington D.C. to Emily Inez Zimmerli (worked in the US Senate) and George Bernhard Tennyson (owner of the Tennyson Tire Company) on July 13, 1930, he received BA and MA degrees from George Washington University. He joined the Army in 1954, was trained in cryptography and then posted at the U.S. Army Base near Freiburg Germany. He served in the National Security Agency as a German translator and code breaker. Upon discharge, he returned to his true passion. academia.
He received MA and PhD degrees from Princeton where his efforts were unparalleled, as he did so well on his PhD written exam that he was excused from the oral and was immediately offered a position on the Princeton Faculty. Instead, he opted for the University of North Carolina and after two years there, joined UCLA in 1964, where he retired in 1994 and remained an Emeritus Professor of English.
He also held a certificate in Shakespeare Studies from the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford upon Avon, England, and a certificate in Germanistik from the Albert Ludwigs Universitat, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He was a British Council Fellow, a Fulbright Fellow, a Gugenheim Fellow, and an NEH Summer Seminar Director. He was a member of various scholarly organizations, including the Modern Language Association, The Carlyle Society, and the Southern California C.S. Lewis Society.
Professor Tennyson was the author or editor of more than a dozen books and monographs on British Victorian and modern literature. He was the editor of the journal Nineteenth-Century Fiction and co-founding editor of Nineteenth-Century Literature. For his work on the journal he received an Outstanding Retiring Editor Award from the Conference of Editors of Learned Journals in 1996. The documentary video, Owen Barfield: Man and Meaning that Tennyson co-wrote and produced, won awards from the Houston World-Fest film conference and from the Chris Awards film conference in Columbus, Ohio.
After retiring from UCLA in 1994, Georg continued his writing passion while penning the Arts and Culture column "Criticus" in the California Political Review magazine. In this position he once described himself as CPR's "designated dispenser of the soothing word, the kindly utterance, and the occasional poison pen."
He traveled extensively during his life, living and studying abroad in England, Germany and elsewhere. He touched many lives and was admired and respected by his peers and friends alike. A lifelong scholar, reader and writer he was an incredible orator and unparalleled conversationalist. He drew you in with his words, which were his passion. He was brilliant, witty, very generous and kind at heart.
His deepest love was for his family, his deceased and adored wife, Liz, who he affectionately called "Madame", and his two daughters, Cam and Holly, his four grandchildren and their surrounding families. He teased and amused his grandchildren who lovingly called him "O'Daddy". He will be dearly missed by all.
He is preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth Johnstone Tennyson and survived by his immediate family and son-in-laws Shawn McClenahan and James Thayer Hands, his sister Christine Tennyson Himes, devoted cousins Verona Collett and Cheryl Popielasz and many other relatives.
A funeral service will be held on May 30th, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, 17114 Ventura Blvd., Encino, followed by a reception in Tarzana. A burial service will be on Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica.
Angeleno Mortuary, Van Nuys handling funeral arrangements.