Lasting Memories

Wendell Cole
May 15, 1914-April 17, 2007
Palo Alto, California

Wendell Cole, Stanford University drama professor emeritus, died of a stroke April 17, 2007, in Palo Alto. He was 92.

Cole designed sets and costumes for more than 250 theater productions at Stanford and was known for creating historical settings for the plays of Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett and Eugene O'Neill.The design room of the Stanford Drama Department is named for him.

Cole was born in Chicago, Ill., on May 15, 1914. As a teenager, he attended the Chicago Art Institute and studied theater at Chicago's Goodman Theater. He earned a bachelor's degree from Albion College in Michigan in 1936 and a master's degree in medieval history the next year at the University of Michigan.

He began teaching at Stanford in 1945 while earning his doctorate degree in drama and European history, which he received in 1951. He then became an assistant professor and taught at Stanford for 52 years.

"Wendell Cole was, arguably, the finest teacher of design in the country," said Doyne Mraz of Southern Oregon University, a former artistic director of Los Altos Conservatory Theatre. "His knowledge of historical theater and his acumen as a teacher captivated his students and his colleagues. Always gentle and a gentleman, Wendell worked untiringly for the theater, which was his life."

Cole, who had also studied Japanese language and culture, was the author of "Kyoto in the Momoyama Period" in 1967.

Cole was also active as a volunteer for the Palo Alto Children's Theater. He and his wife chaperoned trips to museums and plays in Los Angeles and San Diego.

He is survived by his wife, Charlotte Cole of Palo Alto, a former special collections librarian at the Hoover Institution.