In 2021, we lost six of our dear colleagues. We remember these extraordinary individuals with fondness and admiration, and we are truly sorry they are gone. We extend our sincere sympathies to their families.
Ernest Gallo
Ernie Gallo died on December 29, 2021. A scholar of Latin rhetoric and medieval studies, Professor Gallo began working at UMass in 1965 and continued working here for fifty years, teaching a variety of courses including Games Thinkers Play, Prose and Cons, and a science fiction course popular among students. To read more about Professor Gallo’s life and work, see his obituary in the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the following faculty profile, written by his colleague, Jim Freeman.
Arthur F. Kinney
Arthur F. Kinney died on December 25, 2021. Professor Kinney served as a faculty member at UMass Amherst for 50 years, retiring in 2016 as the Thomas W. Copeland Professor of Literary History. In 1976 he founded the Massachusetts Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, later renamed in his honor as the Arthur F. Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies. He was buried in Cortland, New York, in a family plot. To read more about Professor Kinney and his work, see this UMass memorial and this memorial from UMass Press, as well as his obituary.
Jules Chametzky
Jules Chametzky died on September 23, 2021. His funeral was held in September at nearby Wildwood Cemetery in Amherst. An expert in American Jewish and ethnic literatures, Professor Chametzky was a fighter for social justice throughout the humanities. He was also a founder of The Massachusetts Review, which was recently awarded the 2021 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. Both an obituary and this remembrance of Professor Chametzky were published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette; you can also read more in this UMass memorial. A celebration of Professor Chametzky's life will be held October 7, 2022.
David Paroissien
David Paroissien died on September 8, 2021. Professor Paroissien worked at UMass from 1968 to 2001 and ran the Oxford study abroad program for many years. A Dickens scholar, Professor Paroissien was a founding member of the Dickens Society and an editor of Dickens Quarterly. To read more about Professor Paroissien’s work and life, see the tribute published by the Dickens Society and the memorial published in Dickens Quarterly.
Jim Freeman
Jim Freeman died on June 15, 2021. Professor Freeman began working at UMass Amherst in 1968 and worked here for 47 years, teaching Dante, Chaucer, Hemingway and other foundational authors. Professor Freeman published three books and almost 80 articles on subjects as varied as his interests, ranging from John Milton, to gravestones, to Donald Duck. His obituary was published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. To learn more about Professor Freeman’s time at UMass, see his faculty profile.
Donald Junkins
Donald Junkins died on April 15, 2021. Professor Junkins ‘53, alumnus and professor emeritus, taught creative writing at UMass Amherst for 30 years and also served as director of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers. He retired in 1995. Professor Junkins himself was a poet as well as an expert on Hemingway. To read more about Professor Junkins’ life, see this English Department remembrance and these memorials from the Boston Globe and the Greenfield Recorder.