Anthony S. Abbott ’57

Tony was lucky. At age 9, he was virtually parentless. But he found, at boarding school, a love of learning, which he transformed to its twin, teaching. He taught until two weeks before his death Oct. 3, 2020.

At Princeton, Tony joined Ivy Club and was managing editor of the Bric-a-Brac. He roomed senior year with Bruce Rosborough. In 1959, he married Susan Dudley and in 1964, the couple moved to Davidson College in North Carolina, which for the rest of his life was his home, personal and professional. Tony taught English for 37 years there.

With a palpable love for his subject, he became the role model for many and the father figure for some that his teachers at Fay, Kent, Princeton, and then Harvard were for him. His students experienced the twinkle of joy and maybe mischief in his eye some of us knew, as well as his far-off gaze as he recited Yeats or his own or other poetry. He wrote eight books of poetry, two novels, and four critical studies. He was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame.

Besides Susan, he is survived by three smart, successful sons, one of whom remarked, “Dad opens his mouth and these wonderful words come out. We can’t do that.”