Harry Costas Avery *59

Harry died at age 93 in Pittsburgh June 9, 2023.

Harry was born in 1930 in Philadelphia. He enlisted in the Army after high school and served at Fort Lewis in the interval between World War II and the Korean War. 

After the Army, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a degree in classics in 1953. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to Greece and went on to earn a master’s degree at the University of Illinois in 1956 and a Ph.D. in classics at Princeton in 1959. 

In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Harry’s research and teaching interests were in Greek literature and history of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. and in Roman history and literature of the late Republic and the Augustan era. Most of his career was spent at the University of Pittsburgh, where he served as classics department chairman for two decades and professor emeritus since 2015. Earlier in his career he taught at the University of Texas and at Bryn Mawr. 

Predeceased by his wife JoAnn, Harry is survived by his children Eugenia, Anna, Constantine, and William ’91; and three granddaughters.

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.