In Loving Memory, Dr. Craig Kallendorf
The Department of English is sad to report the death of Craig Kallendorf, Professor of English and Classics at Texas A&M, who passed away on January 31, 2023.
The Department of English is sad to report the death of Craig Kallendorf, Professor of English and Classics at Texas A&M, who passed away on January 31, 2023. He earned his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1982, and he joined the faculty at Texas A&M University that same year.
The author or editor of 24 books and 175 articles, book chapters, and reference book entries, Dr. Kallendorf’s expertise was in Greek and Roman Classical literature, specifically the impact of the ancient world in postclassical culture during the early modern period, and he was internationally recognized as the leading authority on the Virgilian tradition in early modern print culture in Italy. His scholarship fundamentally changed the way in which scholars understand the early modern reception of the Classics and the history of the book and other printed matter in the Renaissance. Dr. Kallendorf received two prestigious NEH Fellowships, as well as two major awards from the Loeb Classical Library Foundation at Harvard University. His accomplishments were recently recognized by the Renaissance Society of America, which sponsored two panels in his honor at their 2021 meeting. His achievements were also celebrated by the publication of a festschrift, Habent Sua Fata Libelli: Studies in Book History, the Classical Tradition, and Humanism in Honor of Craig Kallendorf (Brill, 2021).
At Texas A&M, Dr. Kallendorf will be remembered for his contributions to service (including a term as interim Head of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages) and as an exemplary scholar-teacher who received the Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in both teaching (1999) and research (2010). His commitment to mentoring students led to a co-edited book, Classics Transformed (2018), that featured essays written by his undergraduate students.