George P. Landow ’61

    George died May 31, 2023, after a long struggle with prostate cancer.

He came to Princeton from Wooster School. He arrived as a pre-med student and gained admission to medical school, but Professor Louis Landa persuaded him to apply for a Woodrow Wilson Foundation fellowship in English lit at Brandeis, where he earned a master’s degree in literature. After earning another master’s degree at the University of London via a student Fulbright, he returned to Old Nassau writing a dissertation on Ruskin that led to a prize-winning book.

George taught at Columbia, Chicago, Brown, and Brasenose College, Oxford. His books, several of which were translated into five languages, ranged from Victorian literature and art to humanities computing. His later academic honors included two Guggenheims, two senior Fulbrights, and a fellowship at Cornell’s Society for the Humanities. At age 58, he was invited to the National University of Singapore as a distinguished visiting professor, after which he became the founding dean of the University Scholars Program. He devoted his spare time to photography, model railroading, and coaching Little League baseball and soccer.

George is survived by his wife of 57 years, Ruth; daughter Shoshana ’91 and her husband Ethan Stein ’90, and their children Philip and Malcolm; and his son, Noah and his wife CJ.