Obituary for Homer Goldberg

At age 93 in late August, Homer Beryl Goldberg, Distinguished Teaching Professor of English, emeritus, died at his home in Minneapolis.  Homer was a stalwart and mainstay of the English Department from its early beginnings at Oyster Bay until his retirement in the mid-1990s.  A native Chicagoan, he received his B.A., M.A. and Ph. D. from the University of Chicago, served in the U.S. Army in Europe during WWII, was a Fulbright Lecturer in Venice, and taught briefly at Haverford College and the University of Chicago before coming to the State University College on Long Island, as it then was.  His specialty was eighteenth English Literature and particularly the novels of Henry Fielding.  The English Department enjoyed a golden age in those early decades of the institution, with renowned scholars, writers and critics either settling in the area or commuting from the New York City.  Homer more than earned his place among them, and was an enormously popular teacher.  At the end of his career, he devotedly presided over the Emeritus Association and did much to establish its strength and character. Homer is survived by Bette, his wife of sixty one years, and the former director of Gallery North in Setauket, a son, John, a daughter, Emily, and several grandchildren.  Those who remember Homer are grateful to have known him.