Robert W. Russell

Robert W. Russell was born on December 30, 1924 in Binghamton, New York to James Russell and May Clarke. He died on April 1, 2011 at the Hospice of Lancaster County facility in Mount Joy, PA after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was “Bob” to his adult friends and professional colleagues, “Rob” to his family. He graduated in 1940 from the New York Institute for the Blind at age 16. At the Institute he competed on the high school wrestling team, which is where he began his lifelong love of the sport. His contribution to the sport was recognized by his induction into the Pennsylvania, and then subsequently to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame where he was awarded the Medal of Courage in 2000. He attended Hamilton College for two years, and later transferred to Yale, where he completed his B.A. in 1944. During those two years he competed for Yale on the varsity wrestling squad. Yale awarded him an M.A. in English in 1945. Two successive Rotarian Scholarships supported him as he began his work toward a B. Litt degree at Oxford University. He received the degree in 1951. It was at Oxford University where he met Elisabeth D. Shaw, who was also completing a graduate degree. Robert W. Russell married Elisabeth D. Shaw at St. Peter's in the East on March 24, 1951 in Oxford, England. The couple subsequently moved to Binghamton, NY. In 1952 they went to Mount Carroll, IL where Bob taught at Shimer College. They lived in Mount Carroll for three years, before leaving for Lancaster, PA in 1955. Bob had accepted a position in the English Department at Franklin & Marshall College, a position from which he retired in 1990. Bob Russell was appointed Chairman of the English Department at Franklin & Marshall in 1965, a position he held for eight years. He was appointed the Charles A. Dana Professor of English in 1968. Robert Russell’s job as an English professor was to teach his students independent thinking. He was inclined to award high grades for outstanding work, nothing less. Which is why, with few exceptions, his F&M students loved him. His greatest teaching tool was the question. His greatest teaching ability, an uncanny sense of how, where, and when during any class he could guide his students towards and through a memorable learning experience. He was simply one of the very best in his profession. He had a world-class understanding of the subject matter, a disciplined intellectual approach, and a fondness for students who would challenge both him and themselves. His time at the Institute taught him to navigate the New York subway system on his own and with friends. His summers he spent charting the banks of Chenango River with his childhood friends Steve and George. They fished, explored, and learned to love the wind on the water. When he was eleven, Bob accompanied family friends on a fishing trip to the St. Lawrence River. He fell in love with St. Lawrence immediately, and it was a love that endured all his life. He and his wife Elisabeth bought a home on Hay Island off the town of Gananoque, Ontario, and spent their adult summers there with their growing family. They subsequently purchased another property on the same island, and it remained their summer home all of their lives. It was at this summer property that Bob became an accomplished carpenter, plumber, dock designer, electrician, appliance repairman, and roofer. During one winter he took a two-cycle small engine course so that he could repair the bevy of older outboard motors that powered the family’s growing boat fleet. There wasn’t a bolt he didn’t own, or straightened nail he couldn’t find on his back porch – the crucial one that was necessary to complete his own, or someone else’s island repair project. Like all the Russell brothers and sisters before him, and he was the youngest in the family, he was an accomplished card player. He learned that trade in the saloons of Binghamton, and exercised that card playing muscle in the nickel, dime, quarter poker group which he played in for over 30 years in Lancaster. Bob Russell was also a writer. He published his autobiography To Catch An Angel in 1962. It was a New York Times bestseller, and was subsequently translated into thirty-two other languages. He published a novel called An Act of Loving¬ in 1967. That was followed by another autobiographical work – The Island, which came out in 1973. He followed that with a textbook on the teaching of English literature. Bob Russell had an accident as a five-year old that damaged one eye badly. Life conspired against him, and he eventually lost the sight in both eyes. And yet, throughout his life he saw more, and in greater detail, than virtually anyone he ever met. The world that did not know him called him a blind man. To the rest, he was simply, “Professor Russell,” “Bob,” “Rob,” or “Dad.” His was a life truly well-lived. He is survived by his second wife Jane Creed Donaldson Russell, as well as his brother James Russell. In addition he is survived by his sons Richard Geoffrey Russell of Lancaster, PA, Mark Robert Russell of Queensbury, NY, James Avery Russell of Pacific Grove, CA, and his daughter Miranda Elisabeth Russell of Lansdowne, Ontario. His surviving grandchildren include James Truesdale Russell, Elisabeth Avery Russell, Emily Clarke Russell, Emma Carson Russell, Grace Paige Russell, and Rex Avery Russell. Robert was predeceased by his daughter Elisabeth in 1954, and his first wife Elisabeth in 2005. In addition he was predeceased by his brothers Larry, Bud, Jack, and his sisters Mary and Hunnie. The family plans a Remembrance which is to be held at the Old Main Chapel at Franklin & Marshall College at 11:00AM on Saturday, April 9, 2011. A reception will follow at the Academy Room of the Franklin and Marshall College Library. An additional gathering in Bob’s honor will be scheduled in the 1000 Islands for local family and friends in the summer of 2011. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation be made in his name to the local hospice organization in the communities in which you live. In Lancaster, memorial donations in Robert’s name may be made to Hospice of Lancaster County, 685 Good Drive, P.O. Box 4125, Lancaster, PA or on-line at www.hospiceoflancaster.org.

Robert W. Russell

April 4, 2011