Whitney F. Bolton *55

Whitney died in Granby, Conn., May 18, 2024, after a long illness. He was 93.

Whitney was born Oct. 15, 1930, in New York, and graduated from Bard College in 1951. He studied at University College London in 1953-54 and received his Ph.D. in English from Princeton in 1955. Whitney served in the Navy from 1955-57 aboard the USS Olmstead, where he was editor of the ship’s newspaper.

Whitney was a medievalist, with special attention to Chaucer, Beowulf, and history of the English language. He was a research fellow at the University of Reading, England, from 1957 to 1959; assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley from 1960 to 1961; lecturer at the University of Reading, England from 1961 to 1964; and senior lecturer at Simon Fraser University from 1964 to 1965. After serving as a visiting professor in 1971, Whitney became chair of the English department at Douglass College, N.J., and was a professor at Rutgers from 1973 until his retirement in 1996.

He is survived by his wife, Karen; daughter Sarah; stepchildren Eileen and Brian; and six grandchildren.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.