A memorial service for the late R.W.B. Lewis, who died on June 13, will be held at 3 p.m. on Monday, August 26 in Battell Chapel, on the corner of College and Elm streets in New Haven.
One of the nation’s most respected literary critics and biographers, Lewis made a lasting contribution to American scholarship and culture during his nearly half-century academic career at Yale. Lewis is largely credited with placing the long-neglected author Edith Wharton in the Pantheon of great American writers. His 1975 biography of Wharton won the Pulitzer Prize. Another critically acclaimed work by Lewis, “The Jameses: A Family Narrative” (1991), was a ground-breaking history tracing America’s premier literary and intellectual dynasty from the Irish immigrant William James, who settled in Albany, New York, in 1789, to the present generation of James’ descendants.
Lewis was no less esteemed among his wide circle of friends and acquaintances than he was respected among his academic peers. An obituary that appeared in the June19 Guardian described him as “a man of considerable charm and dignity … revered for his personal generosity.”
The Neil Gray Professor of Rhetoric at Yale, and former master of Calhoun College, Lewis retired in 1988.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy, a son and two daughters.
The Reverend William Sloane Coffin, Jr., former University Chaplain at Yale, will conduct the services.
