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  • Howard Marblestone6 (1942–2008)
  • Amy Richlin

Howard Marblestone, Charles Elliott Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Lafayette College, passed away on January 29, 2008, at the age of sixty-five.

He earned his B.A. in Greek and Latin from Cornell University in 1964 and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1970, writing his dissertation with Cyrus Gordon, one of the twentieth century’s most distinguished and influential scholars of Near Eastern languages and cultures. In so doing, Marblestone was ahead of his time, working towards a twenty-first century vision of a polyglot, multicultural ancient world. His involvement in the study of Hebrew language and literature led him to membership in the advisory council of the National Center for the Hebrew Language, and his on-line praises range from RateMyProfessors.com to the Jewish Daily Forward. Marblestone’s essay on putting the melekh in Trimalchio was, for me, a first step towards a recognition that there’s more to antiquity than Greece and Rome.

I first met Howard Marblestone when I came to Lehigh University as a new assistant professor in 1982. For the seven years I spent in the Lehigh Valley, I counted myself lucky to have him as a neighbor. Having joined the Lafayette faculty in 1974, Marblestone was an old hand, and never too busy to help someone just starting out. We shared a Latin student whom I well remember regaling me with tales of “Marbs”; this student’s warm affection only echoed what everyone felt who had the pleasure of working with this kind, humane man.

Howard Marblestone began his career at the University of Illinois (1968–1972), moved to Brooklyn College (1972–1974), and went on to serve Lafayette for more than thirty years, from his own assistant professor days in the 1970s to his eminence as Elliott Professor, the chair being granted in 2004. He served as department head from 1985–1987 and 1994–1998, and also coordinated the classical civilization minor. At Lafayette he taught not only Greek and Latin but Biblical Hebrew, along with classical civilization courses and the ancient history of Greece, Rome, and Israel. He led interim-session courses abroad in Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Italy. In 2001 he received the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award.

Marblestone’s service to classics included longtime service to CAAS, which in 2003 honored him with an ovatio for seven years as Conference Coordinator. I know from my own experience how he could be counted on in all our regional doings. If ever a man deserved a long and happy retirement, he did: gone too soon. Yet all his long life in teaching poured out happiness: much lamented, sorely missed. [End Page 546]

Amy Richlin
University of California, Los Angeles

Footnotes

6. This tribute draws from one that Judith P. Hallett wrote for the CAAS Web site.

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