ROBERT LAMONT BELKNAP

BELKNAP--Robert Lamont. Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Columbia University, died on March 17 after a month of fighting idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Fortunately, he experienced no pain or discomfort, so he retained his signature smile, genial personality, and brilliant mind to the end. Bob has long figured as an internationally renowned Dostoevsky scholar, especially for his monumental studies of The Brothers Karamazov. Remarkable for the depth, breadth, and nuance of his knowledge, Bob wrote dozens of articles that elucidated diverse corners of 18th- and 19th-century Russian literature. His work always reflected a passionate, comparative quality, and he possessed encyclopedic knowledge of European ancient and modern literature. His ability to relate one work of literature to another will be amply demonstrated in his last book, Literary Plots (forthcoming from Columbia University Press). His was a beautiful, labyrinthine mind. Professor Belknap was magisterial--and fun--in the classroom. The intellectual excitement he generated among students was legendary. Figuratively and in reality, at 6'5", he was a towering presence. At Columbia for over fifty years, he championed the teaching of Literature Humanities and co-authored a book on the subject, Tradition and Innovation: General Education and the Reintegration of the University. Just last month, his colleagues and graduate students honored him with a festschrift, Teaching Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature: Essays in Honor of Robert L. Belknap. Bob was a good citizen of the many communities to which he belonged. He was chairman of the board at the Brearley School, which his daughters attended, and he served as president of the Giles Whiting Foundation. At Columbia, among other posts, he was department chair, director of the Harriman Institute, and acting dean of the College. His last position, Chair of the University Seminars, combined his zeal for interdisciplinary studies with his ability to get people to work together harmoniously, even if they warmly despised each other. Bob, a native New Yorker, was born on December 23, 1929. He was educated at the Buckley School, Philips Exeter Academy, and Princeton University, from which he graduated summa cum laude in 1951. After serving in the U.S. Army, he completed his doctorate at Columbia in 1960 and also studied at the University of Paris and Leningrad State University. During summers, Bob loved the ongoing project of building his house on Cliff Island, Maine. There was a sense of nobility about Bob, and perhaps his best achievement was never to have faltered at being honest, fair, wise, of good will and good cheer and thoroughly decent. He was the perfect gentleman. His survivors include: his wife, Cynthia Hyla Whittaker, a Russian historian; his daughters from his previous marriage, Lydia Duff of Baltimore, Ellen Belknap of Portland, Maine, and Abigail Krueger of Boston; his stepchildren, Erica Whittaker of Windsor, England and Andrew Whittaker of New York; and his sisters, Louise Belknap Carter of New Haven and Barbara Belknap of New York. A memorial service will be held at St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University, on September 12 at 2pm.