Lasting Memories

Jay Fliegelman
1949-Aug. 14, 2007
Menlo Park, California

Jay Fliegelman, a Stanford University professor of American literature, died Aug. 14 at his Menlo Park home from complications from liver disease and cancer. He was 58.

Fliegelman was a scholar of American cultural and literary history of the period 1620-1860.

"Jay was an extraordinary and unique kind of scholar," said Ramon Saldivar, chair of the English Department. "There isn't a school of thinking he belonged to. He created his own field of study with early American literature and cultural studies."

He wrote two books on early American literature and culture, "Prodigals and Pilgrims" and "Declaring Independence."

"This past spring when 60 of his former students gathered to celebrate his work, it was evident that he was not just one of the most important scholars of his generation, but one of the great teachers of our time," Saldivar said. "He affected his students intellectually and emotionally in such a profound way that his passing will leave a great void in American studies."

Fliegelman was honored by Stanford and Stanford students several times for his teaching.

"Teaching was absolutely his life," said Nancy Ruttenburg, chair of the Department of Comparative Literature at New York University and a former student of his. "His primary sense of what he was here to do was to teach and mentor. Not only with those whose dissertations he supervised, but with any student who came into his classroom and with junior faculty as well."

Fliegelman was born in New York City, received a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University in 1971 and a doctorate from Stanford in 1977. He joined the Stanford faculty the same year and was chair of the English Department from 1994 to 1997.

Fliegelman is survived by his wife, Christine Guth, an independent scholar and recent Stanford Humanities Center fellow; and by his sister, Sara Benenson of Menlo Park.