We are profoundly sad to announce the death of our colleague Professor Charles Kay Smith, familiarly known as Kay. As a distinguished professor in the UMass Amherst English Department for 40 years, Kay engaged thousands of students, teaching writing and English literature, along with neotenic evolution and epicurean living. Kay published in a broad range of disciplines from his essays "Darwin's Style," "The Domestication of Evolution" and "French Philosophy and English Interregnum Poetry" to his popular writing text Styles and Structures and prose poems in later life. Kay retired from UMass English in 2002, receiving Professor Emeritus title.
As Stephen Clingman writes, "Kay, as he was always known, was a truly lovely individual, warm- and open-hearted, and beloved by all who knew him."
A celebration of Kay's life will be held later this year. Donations in his memory may be made to the UMass Amherst Library, Amherst, MA, 01003, or the Sisters of St. Joseph, 577 Carew St. Springfield, MA, 01104.
Kay's obituary can be found in the Hampshire Gazette.