ROBERT D. THORNTON ’39

ROBERT D. THORNTON, emeritus professor of English at the State University of New York at New Paltz and a State University of New York Exchange Scholar, died Oct. 24, 2006, at age 89. He was a member of Chi Psi and received his degree with honors and with high distinction in English. He received master’s degrees from Western Reserve and Harvard universities, and after service in the US Navy during World War II, returned to Harvard, where he received a PhD. An authority on Robert Burns and the cultural history of 18th-century Scotland, he taught for 45 years. He won awards for teaching and scholarship, and he collaborated with musicians on recordings of the songs of Robert Burns and Francis Hopkinson. Among those who survive are his wife, Grace Baker Thornton, two sons, and a brother, Norman M. Thornton ’41.