To the Williams community,
It is with great sadness that I share news of the passing of retired faculty member Glyn P. Norton, Willcox B. and Harriet M. Adsit Professor of International Studies, Emeritus. Glyn, who taught at Williams for 24 years, passed away on March 6 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon.
Born in Exeter, England, Glyn was a specialist in French and Italian literature and criticism of the Renaissance. With a Ph.D. in French from the University of Michigan, he lectured broadly on these subjects throughout the U.S. and Europe and led seminars at the Folger Institute, the Sorbonne, and Oxford. Before joining the Williams faculty in 1988 he taught French at Dartmouth and Penn State. Glyn’s wife, Victoria, worked in Williams’ Office of College Relations for several years in the 1990s.
During his tenure at Williams, Glyn contributed to the life of the college as a teacher, chair of the Romance Languages Department, and director of the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. An exceptional scholar with a passion for knowledge, he won fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies. He also edited The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism, Volume III: The Renaissance, which received critical praise and has since been translated into Arabic. In addition to Glyn’s love of Renaissance literature, his friends and colleagues fondly recall his appreciation of popular culture.
Details about a memorial service are not available at this time. However, we wanted to share this news today as we mourn the loss of a member of our community.
Our deepest condolences go out to Glyn’s family, colleagues, and many friends.
Sincerely,
Maud S. Mandel
President
Professor of History; Program in Jewish Studies
Megamenu Social