In memoriam Dick Sheldon

[John Kopper]

The Dartmouth Russian Department is saddened to announce the death on February 18 of Richard Sheldon, professor emeritus of Russian and beloved colleague.  Dick had been suffering from Parkinson's for a number of years, and was 81.

Dick’s career began with many short chapters and ended with a long one. After he graduated with a degree in English from the University of Kansas in 1954, Dick made three career detours, serving in the army in Germany, studying at the Sorbonne, and earning a law degree at the University of Michigan. Dick said that to the best of anyone’s knowledge, including his own, he had never practiced law. At Michigan he went on to study Russian and receive his PhD.

In 1965–66 Dick chaired the Russian Department at Grinnell College. His tenure there was the very brief preface to a long and storied career at Dartmouth.  When he retired from Dartmouth in 2002, Dick had been a member of the faculty for thirty-six years, chaired the Russian Department for twenty, and served as Dean of the Humanities for five.  His energetic investment in the department’s St. Petersburg program, begun in the 1960s, contributed to Dartmouth’s early and enduring reputation in the field of foreign study. He taught courses on Chekhov, Solzhenitsyn, Tolstoy, and Nabokov, loved poor film adaptations of Anna Karenina, and loved his students, who returned his affection.

An authority on Viktor Shklovsky, Dick translated several of his books, notably "A Sentimental Journey" (1970), "Zoo, or Letters Not about Love" (1971), "Third Factory" (1977), and "Knight’s Move" (2005). His translation of "Zoo" was nominated for a National Book Award in 1972.  In addition to his articles on Shklovsky, Dick published on Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gorky, Mandelstam, and Sholokhov.  For many years Dick served as a member of the Education Department’s review panel that made recommendations for funding National Resource Centers in Russian and Slavic Studies under Title VI of the Higher Education Act. 

Dick is survived by his wife Karen, four children, and four grandchildren.  A memorial service will be held on May 12 in Hanover.  We will miss his erudition, his wit, and his kindness.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                        http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------