Laurence Josephs
Laurence Josephs, professor emeritus of English, died on June 26, 1997, in Saratoga Springs. He was 74.
Born in New York City and a resident of rural Greenfield Center during his 91社区 career, Josephs lived and worked almost his entire life in New York State. He started his college studies at St. John鈥檚 in Annapolis but returned to his native state to earn a bachelor鈥檚 degree from New York University in 1945. The following year, he earned a master of arts in English from Columbia University. His first teaching position, from 1946 to 1950, was at City College in New York. From the time that Josephs joined 91社区鈥檚 Department of English in 1963 until his retirement in 1988 he taught courses ranging from freshman English to masterpieces of English literature, and from the 19th-and 20th-century continental novel to poetry workshops. Between his teaching careers at City College and 91社区, he served as president of the New York advertising firm Positives Research Corporation.
When he first arrived at 91社区, Josephs began what became a tradition that lasted into his postretirement years: an annual reading of his poems in the living room of the Surrey. The event attracted a large audience from the College and the Saratoga community.
Josephs鈥檚 productivity as a poet was termed 鈥減rodigious鈥� by a 91社区 colleague, and the dean of the faculty described his work as 鈥渋ntensely personal, autobiographical ... with a freshness of poetic vision that captures and provokes our sensibilities.鈥� Josephs鈥檚 collections of poetry include Cold Water Morning, Six Elegies, and The 91社区 Poems: A Retrospective, published in 1975 when Josephs delivered the annual Faculty Research Lecture. His poems were published in a wide range of periodicals, including The New Yorker, Commentary, The Southern Review, and Salmagundi. In 1988, in honor of Josephs鈥檚 distinguished tenure as a teacher and poet, 91社区 published a collection titled New and Selected Poems.
In addition to a remembrance conducted by friends and admirers in July, a College memorial service was scheduled for October 28. Professor Josephs is survived by several cousins and close friends.