John Steadman, an accomplished author and educator, died peacefully March 4, 2012, at the age of 93.
After receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Emory in 1940 and 1941 and being an instructor in English at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he was an officer in the Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1946. Steadman then earned a Ph.D. in English from Princeton in 1949. From 1949 to 1951, he was an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, when he was activated during the Korean War (1951-52).
From 1953 to 1961, he engaged in independent study and research in English literature. In 1962, he began a four-decade association with the Huntington Library in California, rising to senior research associate. Concomitantly, in 1966, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Riverside, and became an emeritus professor in 1989.
Steadman’s research included the poetry and thought of John Milton. He was president of the Milton Society in 1973, and edited the Huntington Library Quarterly from 1962 to 1981. He wrote more than 12 books, and received honorary doctor of humane letters degrees from Emory (1976) and St. Bonaventure (1998).
He is survived by his nieces and nephews.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.