John Charles Ulreich Jr.

1941 - 2022

Ulreich, Jr., John Charles

John passed away peacefully on March 31, 2022. He was born in 1941 in Brooklyn NY to Violet Gesine Krall Ulreich and John Charles Ulreich, Sr. He was graduated from White Plains High School and received his BA in English (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Hamilton College in 1963. He entered Harvard University on a Woodrow Wilson Scholarship and was a Teaching Fellow from 1965-1967, receiving his PhD in 1969. While completing his dissertation, Hamilton College invited him back as an Instructor and then as Assistant Professor. He joined the English Department at the University of Arizona in 1971 and continued teaching there for 45 years until his retirement as Professor in 2016. John was active in the Modern Languages Association, the Milton Society, the Spenser Society, and the Renaissance Society of America. In 1998, John instituted the Milton Marathon at the UA. In this yearly 12-hour event participants took turns reading Milton's Paradise Lost. John was a member of numerous University committees but, above all, loved teaching and his students loved him. To quote some of them on this occasion: "His learning was prodigious. In the classroom, he gave us free rein to express our ideas. His teaching was characterized by patience, generosity, humor, and unaffected humility. He had an unwavering faith in the value of a humanist education and the language arts. We felt we mattered to him. Our words mattered. He took our ideas seriously, even when they didn't merit it. He used them as a starting point to lead us to a deeper understanding. His was an ethic of careful scholarship. His work on John Milton, British philosopher and friend Owen Barfield, and his article on Philip Sidney will continue to be essential reading"; and just one from his evaluations: "Professor Ulreich's course The Bible as Literature was the most stimulating and intellectually rigorous course I took at the UA. If you are serious about pushing your intellectual boundaries, his classes are a must." In addition to his professional life, John was a family man, enjoying travel, hiking, camping, and, especially, birding. Introduced to birding at a young age during summer camp, John never failed to set aside time for his favorite pastime. He and his wife of nearly 56 years birded extensively in the US, Canada, and Mexico. A high point was two 10,000-mile birding trips across the US. At home, John could be found each morning on the back porch with his binoculars. John is survived by his wife Judith Babb Ulreich; sons Geoffrey Knapp Ulreich and Alexander John (Bhagli) Ulreich; granddaughter Amara Suren Ulreich and brother Robert Arthur Ulreich. In keeping with John's wishes, there will be no formal service. Arrangements by Desert Sunset Funeral Home. Gifts in memory of John can be sent to: Tucson Audubon Society, PO Box 91770, Tucson, AZ 85752.