DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AND BENEFACTOR RAY LEWIS WHITE DIES

Ray Lewis White, 60, of Bloomington, Illinois, a generous benefactor and distinguished alumnus of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, died Thursday, October 4 in Champaign, Illinois.

The recipient of both a Woodrow Wilson Graduate Fellowship and a National Defense Education Act Graduate Fellowship, White entered the University of Arkansas in 1962, earning both master's and doctorate degrees in English. He joined the faculty of Illinois State University in 1973 and was named a distinguished professor there in 1985. He was inducted into the 1998-1999 Fulbright College Distinguished Alumni Academy.

He was the author of over 20 books and 100 scholarly articles on a wide variety of subjects in American and European literature. He achieved international recognition for his work on the American writer Sherwood Anderson, publishing editions of the writer's memoirs, correspondence, and the first scholarly editions of "Winesburg, Ohio."

In addition, White wrote books on Gore Vidal, Gertrude Stein, and Günter Grass, as well as articles on numerous American writers, including William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Wallace Stevens, and Eldridge Cleaver. His books on Anderson have been translated into Italian and German, while other writings have been published abroad in Germany, Italy, Japan, India, Sweden, and Switzerland.

He returned to the UA campus in April 1995 for the dedication of the Ben Kimpel statue in front of Kimpel Hall, delivering an address he called "Kimpel, Eaves, and Co.," in which he reminisced about his mentor Ben Kimpel and life in the English department during the turbulent 60s. He described a community in which his research was nurtured by supportive and respected scholars.

After visiting the campus, White said that good memories of his time here as well as the university's commitment to research led him to designate his retirement accounts to create an endowment for funding research and scholarship in the Department of English.

White served as a Fulbright Senior Professor of American Literature at the University of Munich in 1978-79, and in 1990, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from his undergraduate alma mater, Emory & Henry.

"We are honored that Professor White has chosen to support our faculty and benefit the literary community in Fayetteville," said Robert Brinkmeyer, chair of the English department. "His generosity will fund the research of many generations of scholars, perhaps some as prolific and gifted as he was."