Severn Duvall, the Henry S. Fox Jr. Professor of English emeri tus at Washington and Lee University (W&L), died at home March 2, 2012. He was 87.
Duvall was a Marine Corps officer in World War II, and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1948. He received a master’s degree from Princeton in 1951 and was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. Starting full-time teaching as an instructor at Dartmouth in 1953, he completed his Princeton Ph.D. in English in 1955.
At Dartmouth, he rose to associate professor, and in 1962 went to W&L, heading its English department from 1962 to 1977. Duvall’s teaching and research focused on the American South, with secondary interests in modern poetry and American nonfiction prose. He was awarded two Fulbright lectureships and a Ford Foundation Humanities grant. Duvall was a visiting fellow at Oxford University in 1988.
From 1964 to 1988, Duvall was chair of the Glasgow Endowment and brought many celebrated authors to W&L, including three Nobel laureates. He retired in 1995, a courtly and esteemed member of the faculty.
Duvall is survived by his wife of 38 years, Tamara; their son, Daniel ’98; three children from his first marriage to his late wife Marian; and five grandchildren.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.