MICHAEL SEIDEL

SEIDEL--Michael, age 81, passed away on March 27, 2025, at his home in Durham, NC. In 1977 he took a tenured position at Columbia University, where at various points he chaired the English and Comparative Literature Department and the Literature Humanities program and taught for 30 years, retiring as the Jesse and George Siegel Professor of the Humanities in 2007. He wrote academic books on James Joyce, Daniel Defoe, and satire, as well as two books on his lifelong passion, baseball: "Streak," a day-by-day account of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941, and "Ted Williams: A Baseball Life," a biography of the Splendid Splinter. He is survived by his wife, Eileen Mullady; sons Daniel Seidel, Matthew Seidel (Rachel Merton), Timothy Stanley (Sabina Tupan), and Mickey Stanley (Beth Garrabrant); grandchildren Kirby Seidel, Raya Tupan Stanley, Angus Stanley, and Daisy Stanley; and siblings Bruce Seidel and Betty Kelly.