John F. Andrews

11/02/1942 - 05/04/2025

John Frank Andrews, a renowned Shakespearean scholar and longtime DC resident, died peacefully and surrounded by family at home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on May 4, 2025, after a courageous battle with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a rare blood cancer.

John's passion was making Shakespeare more accessible and relatable to today's audiences, not by modernizing the language, but by illuminating its depth and humor. He did so by uncovering Elizabethan sources that helped him reveal otherwise lost double meanings and playful wordplay in the Bard's writing—insights he detailed in his annotated, multi-volume editions of Shakespeare's works. He also explored how Shakespeare's themes echoed during the Civil War and in modern culture through his essays and reviews in The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, as well as through radio and television interviews and speeches.

John was born on November 2, 1942, in Carlsbad, New Mexico, the son of Frank Randolph Andrews—born in New Mexico, the day after it became the 47th U.S. state—and Mary Lucille Wimberley.

As a lifelong baseball fan, 12-year-old "Johnny" pitched for the Shorthorn League's first all-star team alongside future brother-in-law Bill Walton and narrowly missed a trip to the Little League World Series. Decades later, John's letter in Sports Illustrated colorfully described seeing a 'twice-batted' ball at Carlsbad's minor league park, where a hit to the outfield was halted by a collision with a bat—likely one from nearby Carlsbad Caverns, where John worked as a summer park ranger during college. Even in his later years, John amazed his family with his encyclopedic recall of baseball history.

In high school, John organized concerts to raise funds for a statue of the Caveman mascot on the Carlsbad High School campus. The first event featured The Champs (known for their hit "Tequila"); the second starred Chubby Checker of "The Twist" fame.

Valedictorian of CHS's class of 1961, John accepted a scholarship to Princeton University. He began in architecture but soon pivoted to English literature and drama, inspired by a charismatic professor. John went on to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard and a Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt.

While at Harvard, John met Vicky Anderson, a future Fairfax County math teacher. They married and had two children, Eric and Lisa. Though they later divorced, they remained on close terms.

In 1970, John joined the English faculty at Florida State University. He also served on a faculty committee tasked with deciding the future of the football program after its winless 1973 season. Their decision to invest in rebuilding the program helped pave the way for Coach Bobby Bowden's legendary tenure; it also fostered John's lifelong devotion to the Seminoles.

In 1974, John became Director of Academic Programs at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, where he also served as editor of The Shakespeare Quarterly and helped organize and promote a major touring exhibition, Shakespeare: The Globe and the World. He later served as Deputy Director of Education Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities before founding The Shakespeare Guild, a nonprofit devoted to expanding appreciation for Shakespeare's works. He also spent six years as Executive Director of the English-Speaking Union of Washington, DC.

In 1993, John met Jan Denton, a talented policy analyst and artist who also hailed from New Mexico. They married a year later in Washington, DC, in a ceremony officiated by Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Judge John Minor Wisdom.

In 1994, with the enthusiastic blessing of its namesake, John established the Sir John Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts, with honorees including Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Derek Jacobi, Christopher Plummer, Kevin Kline, and other icons of classical theater. Four years later, he launched Speaking of Shakespeare, a series of conversations with artists, writers, and cultural leaders hosted at the National Arts Club, the Players, and other prominent venues. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he transitioned these events online, significantly expanding their reach.

In 2000, John was named an Honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in a ceremony at the British Embassy in Washington.

In 2007, John and Jan relocated to Santa Fe, the capital of their mutual birth state. There, Jan's career as a painter flourished, and John found community with a group of literary-minded men who playfully called themselves "Quién Sabe" ("Who Knows"). In 2021, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Carlsbad Museum. He also served on the Carlsbad Mayor's Cultural Development Council.

Among his many accomplishments, John was especially proud of helping to secure a memorial plaque for Sir John Gielgud in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner in 2022, a project he led in collaboration with Sir Stanley Wells of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Though highly accomplished, John will be remembered for far more than his scholarship. He had a remarkable gift for making everyone he met feel important. He much preferred highlighting the successes of his wife, children, and grandchildren over his own. His puns were famously groan-worthy (and he was perhaps almost as proud that both of his children became punsters as he was that they both became Princetonians). He cherished family gatherings including lively rounds of games like Texas 42 and the occasional Manhattan. Even in his 80s, he did living-room pushups to spur Florida State to victory. Whatever the pursuit, he did it with heart, humility, and humor.

John is survived by his wife, Jan Denton; his son Eric Andrews (Annika) of Seattle, Washington; his daughter Lisa Hobart (Jeff Ulmer) of Lower Gwynedd, Pennsylvania; and his six grandchildren: Elsa, Axel, and Lars Andrews; and Anderson, Elon, and Everett Hobart. He is also survived by his sisters Judy Walton (Bill) and Jan d'Orsay (B.J.), both of Lubbock, Texas; and his niece Carol Robertson (Pat) and nephews Michael Walton (Shaeli) and Stephen Walton (Catherine).

A celebration of John's life will occur this summer in Santa Fe with details to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations in John's name to the Carlsbad Community Foundation (114 S. Canyon St. Carlsbad, NM 88220) or The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/support-us/donate/).