Charles E. Fantazzi (1930–2024)

Charles E. Fantazzi (1930–2024) Luc Deitz Click for larger view View full resolution (photo: Nanyoung Kim) Charles E. Fantazzi (1930–2024) The world of Neo-Latin scholarship mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished members, Professor Charles Emmanuel Fantazzi, who died on 13 March from complications following major hip and leg surgery after a fall at his home in Windsor, Ontario at the end of January. Born on August 27, 1930, in Yonkers, New York, Charles received his early education at a school run by the Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes, where he learned Greek and Latin even before becoming fluent in Italian. He went on to study classics with great distinction at Catholic University, where he fell under the spell of the renowned classicist George J. Siefert. Siefert taught him how to recite Greek and Latin verse (and prose) correctly, and in the course of his long career, Charles would captivate many an audience by just reading aloud (or quoting from memory) classical poetry in his warm, engaging voice. It was at Catholic University, too, that Charles met Russell Woollen, under whose direction he took up the study of Gregorian chant, with so much success that he would later in life perform as a soloist chanter under Théodore Marier, the founder of the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School. Moreover, possessed of a fine tenor voice, Charles would be, throughout his life, an eager and welcome participant in choral concerts with a variety of musical organizations, including many with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Charles earned his MA with a dissertation on Paulinus of Nola in 1956, and went on to study Medieval Latin, French, Italian, and Comparative Literature at Harvard, where he gained his PhD in 1964 with a dissertation on The Virgilian Version of Pastoral (written under the mentorship of Wendell V. Clausen). In 1963, he joined the faculty of the University of Windsor, Ontario, where, as a Professor of Classics and Italian, he would remain until his retirement in 1995. [End Page 450] Eager to remain active as a scholar and a teacher, Charles applied for and received a one-year appointment at the East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina as Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities for 1998–99. His efforts that year were such a success with his colleagues and his students that the University decided to keep him on as the Thomas Harriot Distinguished Teaching Professor of Classics and Great Books, the position from which he retired in 2011. For his many services to that University, Charles was awarded the Harriot College Medallion in 2010. Charles' scholarly achievements are, by any standards, extraordinary. In collaboration with Alessandro Perosa, he edited Sannazaro's De partu Virginis. With Constant Matheeussen, Charles initiated and edited the Selected Works of J. L. Vives. He was the translator and principal classical annotator (in collaboration with James Estes and James Farge as historical annotators) of six volumes of the Toronto Collected Works of Erasmus Correspondence series, and was either wholly or partly responsible for five volumes in other series (Literary and Educational Writings; Pastoralia and Spiritualia; Controversies with Spanish and French Theologians). For the I Tatti Renaissance Library, he edited the fiendishly difficult poetical works of Poliziano and of Marullus. Many more (co-)publications could (and should) be mentioned, but these alone are a monument of erudition and a lasting testimony to the depth and breadth of Charles' learning. Charles was a true gentleman and a humanist to the core. He wore his uncommon erudition lightly and was also boundlessly generous with it. While he did not suffer fools gladly, and could lose his temper when faced with scholarly sloth or mediocrity, he would invariably help those who were looking for philological truth rather than for the advancement of their career. He will be sorely missed by his countless friends in Canada, the US, Latin America, and Europe. Ave, amice humanissime—sit tibi terra levis! [End Page 451] Luc Deitz Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg Copyright © 2024 The Catholic University of America Press

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