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Horace Mann School City College of New York

FUNERAL HOME

Riverside Memorial Chapel - New York

180 West 76th Street

New York City, New York

PAUL OPPENHEIMER Obituary

OPPENHEIMER--Paul Eugene, age 83, of the Upper West Side of Manhattan died peacefully July 28, 2022. A poet, writer, prankster and professor, Oppenheimer taught for 55 years in the English Department at The City College of New York and The CUNY Graduate Center. He published numerous books and articles on wide-ranging subjects such as evil, vampirism, the birth of modern thought, guilt, and Till Eulenspiegel. An expert in medieval literature and fluent in seven languages, he wrote biographies of Peter Paul Rubens, in which he discovered the origins of film, and Niccolo Machiavelli, in which he found mischief and machinations. He wrote several novels, four poetry collections, and many essays. Academically, his primary interest involved the development of ideas from historical origins to modern incarnations, including scientific concepts. Oppenheimer graduated Horace Mann School, Princeton (BA), and Columbia (MA, PhD). In addition to CCNY, he taught at Hunter, the Sorbonne, University College London, and Osnabruck University, as a Fulbright Fellow. Oppenheimer is survived by his wife Assia Nakova; daughters, Julie (Daniel) and Rebecca from a previous marriage to Linda; granddaughters Audrey and Hazel; and siblings, Miriam and Tony. A memorial celebration will take place in September.

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Published by New York Times on Jul. 31, 2022.

Memories and Condolences
for PAUL OPPENHEIMER

28 Entries

Thomas Dermako

October 20, 2024

Paul was my professor and long-term advisor for my Master's Degree on the Gawain manuscript. He was my first and greatest inspiration in medieval literature and will be fondly remembered.

Julie Oppenheimer

July 24, 2024

Bill DiNome

May 9, 2024

Just a few weeks ago, I happened to unearth once again my copy of "A Pleasant Vintage of Till Eulenspiegel," one of my most treasured books since I bought it at the CCNY bookstore while a student there in the late 1970s. I shared it with several people, telling them about its translator, my instructor, with whom I spent an entire semester on the Canterbury Tales, the course's sole topic. Dr Oppenheimer made a deep and lasting impression upon me--his affable nature, his brilliant flashing eyes, his passion for the material and for teaching, his kindness and compassion for his students. I stumbled just now across news of his passing while reading the news from CCNY. My sadness, though great, is more than balanced by my gratitude for the good fortune to have known and studied with such a gentle, funny, fascinating human being. He touched counteless lives. My sincerest condolences to his family.

Lewis B Frumkes

December 26, 2023

I´m sorry to hear about Paul´s passing. We met a few times over the years after having graduated in the same class at Horace Mann school and enjoyed each other´s company at those meetings.
Lewis Frumkes

Ica

November 22, 2023

My abiding memory of Paul will be that one could laugh with him until it hurt.

The only grown person I´ve known who, when the mood took him, embodied glee in every pore.

October 17, 2023

still hard living life without him

Saida Rodriguez Pagan

July 22, 2023

I just found out about Paul Oppenheimer´s passing. My deepest condolences to his family. He was my professor at the City College of New York during my Freshman year at the school in the fall of 1970. The class was Medieval Literature. I found Professor Oppenheimer to be beyond intelligent; and his teaching style to be engaging and unforgettable. But what was most important to me is that he treated me with respect and kindness which I will always be thankful for. I contacted him once or two over the many decades to let him know about my career in the news industry, and he always seemed to remember me which I found remarkable. May his soul rest in peace.

Filippa Modesto

July 12, 2023

I am deeply saddened to hear of Prof. Oppenheimer's passing. He was the Director of my PhD dissertation, "Dante's Transmutation of Classical Friendship" (Comparative Literature, CUNY, Graduate Center). I will be forever grateful for his guidance and support, for his acute observations and concise comments. Grazie!

juan c mercado

July 5, 2023

My condolences to Paul's family, jcm

John Connolly

July 4, 2023

Paul, without realising it was one of the Americans in London who helped save my life.
God bless. John C.

Caleb

January 24, 2023

I was an undergraduate student of Paul's. He was sharp, direct, a wry wit. He provoked different ways of thinking. Demanded clarity. Best of all, Paul modeled an intense love of language and invited his students to share that love; he possessed an unlimited capacity for intellectual hospitality. Thank you, Professor.

Rebecca

December 1, 2022

Paul, amazing and beautiful man
With love
Becca

Jan Cornell

September 11, 2022

My heartfelt condolences to all Paul´s family.
I knew Paul for years and in our younger days his caring and wisdom
was transformative.
My life was so blessed by Paul. May he always be blessed by God´s abiding love.

Susan MacRae

September 8, 2022

I'm sorry to hear about the passing of Paul Oppenheimer. He was my professor at CCNY for my Masters degree, and I studied the medieval epic with him. He was a brilliant man, with a great sense of humour as well as style! He was a great teacher to have and I will miss his presence in the world.

Ezzie Gleeson-Ward

September 8, 2022

I knew Paul in the late eighties/early nineties and kept in touch over the years. I´m sad to hear of his passing and send my condolences. I was Lynn when I knew him: we met in London.

Andras and Ruth Hamori

August 10, 2022

We loved you for your brilliance, your steadfastness, your intellectual audacity, the stunning beauty - firmness, wit, passion and music -- of your poetry, your talent for irony, your whimsical-somber drawings of the grotesque, your huge talent for love, as Assia will forever remember, and for friendship, over sixty years of it. To slightly misquote your line: Nor any darkness ever takes your measure.

David Armstrong

August 6, 2022

Paul and I first met when I was 17 and he was 18. We sneaked out of one of the Freshman Orientation sessions at Princeton in September 1957, because we found we would rather talk about literature, music, art and film, and started a conversation that lasted 65 years. We never once got together all this time without my feeling either happier or wiser for it; mostly both, given the madcap Till Eulenspiegel humor radiating from him (photograph 1) at all times and the gift of intense attention and sympathy which is so beautifully expressed in photograph 2. It´s a great trial to lose you, Paul. But though I can say Ave, Paule, `Hail, Paul´, I won't go on like Catullus to say atque vale, `and farewell´. You will be a part of me and everyone else who loved you to the end of our lives. And when that´s over, your poems will still be singing like nightingales.

Michelle

August 2, 2022

Paul Oppenheimer´s course on Machiavelli and Evil was the first one that I took in graduate school. He immediately made you feel welcome and taught you to consider every aspect of what you were thinking and working on. I thank him for that. My deepest condolences.

Gregory

August 1, 2022

Farewell, Paul Oppenheimer, who I had the pleasure of working with in grad school at CCNY, in a course on artistic revolution. His book on Reubens was a truly excellent and enlightening--one of the best books I read during grad school. But my favorite memory out of many is when he shared his own translation of Rilke's "Archaic Torso of Apollo," complaining that most translations simply weren't strong enough: "The last line should read, 'You've *got* to change your life!'" He said it with passion and precision, the same way he taught. Rest in peace, professor.

Alex

August 1, 2022

I took one of his courses at CCNY as a graduate student. He had such mastery of his material. And a wonderfully dry wit.
My sincerest condolences.

juan c mercado

August 1, 2022

My condolences to his family.

Mimi T

July 31, 2022

I think of Paul as a wise rapscallion, a generous spirit who touched the hearts of many. Thank you Paul. May Assia and Paul's family be comforted at this time of grief.