William I. Homer ’51

Bill was born Nov. 8, 1929, in Merion, Pa., to Austin and Evelyn Innes Homer.

At Princeton he majored in art and archaeology and was a member of Triangle, Theatre Intime, the band, and the orchestra. He roomed with Dick Ahrendt, Harned Isele, and Fritz Kenny, and graduated magna cum laude.

Bill earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in fine arts from Harvard, where he was a Leverett Saltonstall Scholar. He taught at Princeton from 1955 to 1964 and at Cornell from 1964 to 1966. In 1966 he moved to the University of Delaware to create its doctoral program in American art history, then headed the department from 1966 to 1981, and again from 1988 to 1999, when he retired. His publications include Seurat and the Science of Painting, Alfred Stieglitz and the American Avant-Garde, and Thomas Eakins, His Life and Art.

Bill’s impact as a scholar, teacher, curator, and administrator cannot be overstated. He continued to publish, the last of his 11 books being The Paris Letters of Thomas Eakins.

His marriage to Virginia Keller ended in divorce. Bill died July 8, 2012. He is survived by his wife, Christine; son Stacy; stepson Frederick; stepdaughters Susan Hyer and Elizabeth Hyer Rose; his brother, Stephen; and two grandchildren.