Robert Bush, longtime resident of Essex Fells, N.J., died Oct. 14, 2011, at the age of 94.

Bob was born in Roseland, N.J., and prepared for college at Montclair High School. At Princeton he majored in English, receiving honorable mention for the 1870 Junior Prize in that subject. He was a parking-squad member and representative of the Tiger Teapot.

After graduation from Princeton in 1938, Bob earned a master’s degree from Columbia and a Ph.D. from Iowa State. He first taught English at Louisiana State University, then at The Citadel, and finally at Hunter College in the CUNY system. He specialized in Southern American writers, notably 19th- and 20th-century Southern women.

Bob contributed to the history of his birthplace by helping to create the Roseland Historical Society, which is located in his family home, the Harrison House. In 1994 he wrote A Small House In New Jersey, which recounts the homestead’s history.

Bob is survived by his brother, Donald Bush, and his wife Margery; niece Lesley Bush; and nephews, David, Jeffrey, and Gregory Bush. To them all, the class extends sincere sympathy for the loss of an illustrious member.

Undergraduate Class of 1938