Hugh H. Witemeyer *66

Hugh died in Albuquerque, N.M., May 1, 2022, just short of his 83rd birthday.

Born June 10, 1939, Hugh earned degrees in English from the University of Michigan, Oxford University as a Marshall scholar, and a doctorate from Princeton in 1966. He began his teaching career at the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the English faculty at the University of New Mexico in 1973. 

His scholarly interests included George Eliot, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, William Butler Yeats, and Charles Tomlinson. His book The Poetry of Ezra Pound: Forms and Renewal revealed literary critical intelligence at work on one of the most difficult and controversial American poets of the 20th century His George Eliot and the Visual Arts demonstrated Hugh’s critical abilities across artistic genres.

After retiring in 2004, Hugh energetically supported local amateur theater. He played in local productions and co-founded the Albuquerque Theatre Guild. Hugh proved to be an entertaining dramatist. When two of his colleagues retired, he created a parody of a James Bond film about the “kidnapping” of the apostrophe from the world of letters, accompanied by an audio pastiche of Bond music.

Hugh is survived by his wife, Barbara; daughter Hazen; and brother Wayne.

Graduate Alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.