Raymond J. Nelson, 72, of Earlysville, professor of English and former Dean of Arts and Sciences at University of Virginia, died on Friday morning, August 19, 2011, at Martha Jefferson Hospital, after a long illness.
He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on September 5, 1938, the son of Raymond J. Nelson and Eileen McGrath Nelson. He was predeceased by a sister, Regina.
He served in the United States Coast Guard from 1958 until 1962, received his BA from the University of Connecticut in 1965 and his PhD from Stanford University in 1969. In that year he joined the English Department at University of Virginia. He rose through the ranks and in 1985 became Professor of English. He taught courses in 19th- and 20th-century American literature and the history of American English and American lexicography, and published scholarly and critical studies of writers such as Herman Melville, Chester Himes, Weldon Kees, and H. L. Mencken . He published three books: Van Wyck Brooks: A Writer's Life (1981), Kenneth Patchen and American Mysticism (1984, winner of the Melville Cane Award from the Poetry Society of America), and an annotated edition of Melvin Tolson's Harlem Gallery and Other Poems (1999). In the English Department he served as Graduate Advisor and as Associate Chair. In 1985 he became Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences under Dean Hugh Kelly; when Kelly moved on to become University Provost in 1989, Ray became Dean and served in that position until 1997. His term in that office is still remembered with extraordinary warmth and respect by a wide segment of University faculty and staff. In 1996 he was elected to an endowed chair, to become William R. Kenan Jr., Professor of English; the next year he moved to a newly created chair, the Arts and Sciences Professorship. With his death, that position will become the Raymond J. Nelson Professorship.
In 1999, he received the Jefferson Award, the University's highest recognition for service. He was also a book collector and dealer, and in the 1990's became adept at photomicrography; an exhibition of his photomicrographs, "Everything Up Close," was held in Fayerweather Hall in 1998.
He is survived by his wife Claudine Ligot Nelson; by his daughter, Sylvie Nelson Casper of Centreville, and her husband, Steve; by his son, Chris Nelson of Palmyra and his wife, Heather; and by four grandchildren, Ariane and Ben Casper and Natalie and Samuel Nelson.
The family would like to thank Dr. Ramalakshmi Marri for her many years of care and also the staff of Martha Jefferson Hospital.
There will be a memorial service at the University Chapel Monday, September 12, 2011, with a reception following at Carrs Hill.
Charitable donations if desired may be made to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Hill and Wood Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on September 5, 1938, the son of Raymond J. Nelson and Eileen McGrath Nelson. He was predeceased by a sister, Regina.
He served in the United States Coast Guard from 1958 until 1962, received his BA from the University of Connecticut in 1965 and his PhD from Stanford University in 1969. In that year he joined the English Department at University of Virginia. He rose through the ranks and in 1985 became Professor of English. He taught courses in 19th- and 20th-century American literature and the history of American English and American lexicography, and published scholarly and critical studies of writers such as Herman Melville, Chester Himes, Weldon Kees, and H. L. Mencken . He published three books: Van Wyck Brooks: A Writer's Life (1981), Kenneth Patchen and American Mysticism (1984, winner of the Melville Cane Award from the Poetry Society of America), and an annotated edition of Melvin Tolson's Harlem Gallery and Other Poems (1999). In the English Department he served as Graduate Advisor and as Associate Chair. In 1985 he became Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences under Dean Hugh Kelly; when Kelly moved on to become University Provost in 1989, Ray became Dean and served in that position until 1997. His term in that office is still remembered with extraordinary warmth and respect by a wide segment of University faculty and staff. In 1996 he was elected to an endowed chair, to become William R. Kenan Jr., Professor of English; the next year he moved to a newly created chair, the Arts and Sciences Professorship. With his death, that position will become the Raymond J. Nelson Professorship.
In 1999, he received the Jefferson Award, the University's highest recognition for service. He was also a book collector and dealer, and in the 1990's became adept at photomicrography; an exhibition of his photomicrographs, "Everything Up Close," was held in Fayerweather Hall in 1998.
He is survived by his wife Claudine Ligot Nelson; by his daughter, Sylvie Nelson Casper of Centreville, and her husband, Steve; by his son, Chris Nelson of Palmyra and his wife, Heather; and by four grandchildren, Ariane and Ben Casper and Natalie and Samuel Nelson.
The family would like to thank Dr. Ramalakshmi Marri for her many years of care and also the staff of Martha Jefferson Hospital.
There will be a memorial service at the University Chapel Monday, September 12, 2011, with a reception following at Carrs Hill.
Charitable donations if desired may be made to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Hill and Wood Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
Raymond J. Nelson, 72, of Earlysville, professor of English and former Dean of Arts and Sciences at University of Virginia, died on Friday morning, August 19, 2011, at Martha Jefferson Hospital, after a long illness.
He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on September 5, 1938, the son of Raymond J. Nelson and Eileen McGrath Nelson. He was predeceased by a sister, Regina.
He served in the United States Coast Guard from 1958 until 1962, received his BA from the University of Connecticut in 1965 and his PhD from Stanford University in 1969. In that year he joined the English Department at University of Virginia. He rose through the ranks and in 1985 became Professor of English. He taught courses in 19th- and 20th-century American literature and the history of American English and American lexicography, and published scholarly and critical studies of writers such as Herman Melville, Chester Himes, Weldon Kees, and H. L. Mencken . He published three books: Van Wyck Brooks: A Writer's Life (1981), Kenneth Patchen and American Mysticism (1984, winner of the Melville Cane Award from the Poetry Society of America), and an annotated edition of Melvin Tolson's Harlem Gallery and Other Poems (1999). In the English Department he served as Graduate Advisor and as Associate Chair. In 1985 he became Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences under Dean Hugh Kelly; when Kelly moved on to become University Provost in 1989, Ray became Dean and served in that position until 1997. His term in that office is still remembered with extraordinary warmth and respect by a wide segment of University faculty and staff. In 1996 he was elected to an endowed chair, to become William R. Kenan Jr., Professor of English; the next year he moved to a newly created chair, the Arts and Sciences Professorship. With his death, that position will become the Raymond J. Nelson Professorship.
In 1999, he received the Jefferson Award, the University's highest recognition for service. He was also a book collector and dealer, and in the 1990's became adept at photomicrography; an exhibition of his photomicrographs, "Everything Up Close," was held in Fayerweather Hall in 1998.
He is survived by his wife Claudine Ligot Nelson; by his daughter, Sylvie Nelson Casper of Centreville, and her husband, Steve; by his son, Chris Nelson of Palmyra and his wife, Heather; and by four grandchildren, Ariane and Ben Casper and Natalie and Samuel Nelson.
The family would like to thank Dr. Ramalakshmi Marri for her many years of care and also the staff of Martha Jefferson Hospital.
There will be a memorial service at the University Chapel Monday, September 12, 2011, with a reception following at Carrs Hill.
Charitable donations if desired may be made to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Hill and Wood Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on September 5, 1938, the son of Raymond J. Nelson and Eileen McGrath Nelson. He was predeceased by a sister, Regina.
He served in the United States Coast Guard from 1958 until 1962, received his BA from the University of Connecticut in 1965 and his PhD from Stanford University in 1969. In that year he joined the English Department at University of Virginia. He rose through the ranks and in 1985 became Professor of English. He taught courses in 19th- and 20th-century American literature and the history of American English and American lexicography, and published scholarly and critical studies of writers such as Herman Melville, Chester Himes, Weldon Kees, and H. L. Mencken . He published three books: Van Wyck Brooks: A Writer's Life (1981), Kenneth Patchen and American Mysticism (1984, winner of the Melville Cane Award from the Poetry Society of America), and an annotated edition of Melvin Tolson's Harlem Gallery and Other Poems (1999). In the English Department he served as Graduate Advisor and as Associate Chair. In 1985 he became Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences under Dean Hugh Kelly; when Kelly moved on to become University Provost in 1989, Ray became Dean and served in that position until 1997. His term in that office is still remembered with extraordinary warmth and respect by a wide segment of University faculty and staff. In 1996 he was elected to an endowed chair, to become William R. Kenan Jr., Professor of English; the next year he moved to a newly created chair, the Arts and Sciences Professorship. With his death, that position will become the Raymond J. Nelson Professorship.
In 1999, he received the Jefferson Award, the University's highest recognition for service. He was also a book collector and dealer, and in the 1990's became adept at photomicrography; an exhibition of his photomicrographs, "Everything Up Close," was held in Fayerweather Hall in 1998.
He is survived by his wife Claudine Ligot Nelson; by his daughter, Sylvie Nelson Casper of Centreville, and her husband, Steve; by his son, Chris Nelson of Palmyra and his wife, Heather; and by four grandchildren, Ariane and Ben Casper and Natalie and Samuel Nelson.
The family would like to thank Dr. Ramalakshmi Marri for her many years of care and also the staff of Martha Jefferson Hospital.
There will be a memorial service at the University Chapel Monday, September 12, 2011, with a reception following at Carrs Hill.
Charitable donations if desired may be made to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Hill and Wood Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
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