Tucson Region
Editor, English professor A. Gegenheimer
dies at 96
By Alexis Huicochea
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.03.2006
Albert Frank Gegenheimer taught for three decades at UA.
Albert Frank Gegenheimer, a longtime University
of Arizona English professor and editor of the Arizona
Quarterly, died Thursday at age 96.
He died at a hospital after a long bout with
pneumonia, his son Paul Gegenheimer said.
A graduate of Yale University in 1932, the elder
Gegenheimer went on to earn his master's at Case Western Reserve
in 1936 and his Ph.D. in English literature from the University
of Pennsylvania in 1940.
In 1941, Gegenheimer and his wife, Betty, came
to Tucson so he could work at the UA. He remained at the
university for more than 30 years, except two years when he
taught at the University of Connecticut and served in World War
II in information education for the U.S. Army, his son said.
In addition, Gegenheimer served as chairman of
the UA faculty for 17 years.
In 1951, he began his 37-year run as editor of
the Arizona Quarterly, a literary journal that published
scholarly research, short stories, book reviews and poetry.
At the Quarterly, he worked with T.S. Eliot,
Stephen Spender and Eudora Welty, and was the first to publish
the work of Joyce Carol Oates, Paul Gegenheimer said.
"My father was passionate about education," he
said. "He was quiet, hard-working and off the charts bright. He
was very caring — always concerned about his family and social
justice, as well."
He was also very involved in the Episcopal
church, Paul Gegenheimer said.
He was the leading supporter of Episcopal work
on the UA campus for more than 50 years and served as the
chairman of the advisory board for the Episcopal Campus
Ministry, which he helped found.
He was a senior warden at St. Andrew's Episcopal
Church for more than 10 years. The parish hall there is named
after him.
Gegenheimer is survived by his two sons, Peter
and Paul Gegenheimer. He was preceded in death by his wife,
Betty.
Funeral services will be held Saturday at St. Andrew's, 545 S.
Fifth Ave., at 11 a.m.
Last Update: 07/20/97
Copyright; 1998
by TL Consulting Group -
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Copyright; 1998 by TL Consulting Group - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
