Richard
Richard W. Goldsmith
d. July 9, 2010
Richard W. Goldsmith, 89, a retired English professor, scholar and author, died July 9 at his Raleigh home after a long illness.
His long life was full of love for family and friends, for literature and learning. His wit, his passion for words and his kindness to others will be missed.
Mr. Goldsmith had returned in 2008 to Raleigh, where he had been a professor at N.C. State University from 1958 until 1972.
A native of New York City and a graduate of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, he came to North Carolina in 1938 to attend UNC-Chapel Hill, where he met the love of his life, Mary Johnson MacMillan. They married in 1944 during his 39 months of service in the Army Air Corps. She preceded him in death in Tallahassee, Fla., in 2002, after nearly 58 years of marriage.
After his honorable discharge as a sergeant in 1946, the young couple moved to New York City, where they lived a few adventurous years, frequenting concerts, theater and the night life of Greenwich Village.
Mr. Goldsmith worked for his family's stationery and office-supply business, Goldsmith Brothers, following stints at the Journal of Commerce and the old New York Herald Tribune.
Their first child, Lynn deVore, was born in 1946, followed by Catharine Gideon in 1949. The family moved back to Chapel Hill in 1951 so that Mr. Goldsmith could pursue his doctorate at UNC; Thomas Richard was born in 1952. Lynn (Richard Alfred), of Newton, Mass., and Thomas (Renee Elder) and Catharine, both of Raleigh, all survive, as do eight grandchildren and one great-grandson.
While a graduate student, Mr. Goldsmith took a teaching position at UNC-Chapel Hill, then spent the 1956-1957 academic year on a Southern Fellowship at the University of Kentucky. He moved to N.C. State in 1958 and in Raleigh completed his dissertation on his lifelong subject of choice, the Victorian poet Robert Browning. It was a lively period in Raleigh, and visiting literary figures such as Lionel Trilling, James Dickey and Carolyn Kizer attended gatherings at the Goldsmith family's West Raleigh home.
In addition to his teaching duties, Mr. Goldsmith was involved as an editor and contributor at the influential Southern Poetry Review, a magazine on which he worked with his close friend Guy Owen.
Leaving North Carolina in the 1970s to return to his native Northeast, he published a volume of poetry, "Another Garland for Eve."
Richard and Mary Goldsmith spent several years in Litchfield, Ct., near Mr. Goldsmith's older relatives and family business interests in New York City, before relocating to Tallahassee, to be near daughter Catharine. Upon returning to Raleigh, he enjoyed the closeness of family, reunions with old friends including Cy and Carolyn King, and discovered a Raleigh music and dining scene that had not existed during his previous stay here.
Read Richard Goldsmith's Obituary and Guestbook on www.mcdougald.com.
His long life was full of love for family and friends, for literature and learning. His wit, his passion for words and his kindness to others will be missed.
Mr. Goldsmith had returned in 2008 to Raleigh, where he had been a professor at N.C. State University from 1958 until 1972.
A native of New York City and a graduate of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, he came to North Carolina in 1938 to attend UNC-Chapel Hill, where he met the love of his life, Mary Johnson MacMillan. They married in 1944 during his 39 months of service in the Army Air Corps. She preceded him in death in Tallahassee, Fla., in 2002, after nearly 58 years of marriage.
After his honorable discharge as a sergeant in 1946, the young couple moved to New York City, where they lived a few adventurous years, frequenting concerts, theater and the night life of Greenwich Village.
Mr. Goldsmith worked for his family's stationery and office-supply business, Goldsmith Brothers, following stints at the Journal of Commerce and the old New York Herald Tribune.
Their first child, Lynn deVore, was born in 1946, followed by Catharine Gideon in 1949. The family moved back to Chapel Hill in 1951 so that Mr. Goldsmith could pursue his doctorate at UNC; Thomas Richard was born in 1952. Lynn (Richard Alfred), of Newton, Mass., and Thomas (Renee Elder) and Catharine, both of Raleigh, all survive, as do eight grandchildren and one great-grandson.
While a graduate student, Mr. Goldsmith took a teaching position at UNC-Chapel Hill, then spent the 1956-1957 academic year on a Southern Fellowship at the University of Kentucky. He moved to N.C. State in 1958 and in Raleigh completed his dissertation on his lifelong subject of choice, the Victorian poet Robert Browning. It was a lively period in Raleigh, and visiting literary figures such as Lionel Trilling, James Dickey and Carolyn Kizer attended gatherings at the Goldsmith family's West Raleigh home.
In addition to his teaching duties, Mr. Goldsmith was involved as an editor and contributor at the influential Southern Poetry Review, a magazine on which he worked with his close friend Guy Owen.
Leaving North Carolina in the 1970s to return to his native Northeast, he published a volume of poetry, "Another Garland for Eve."
Richard and Mary Goldsmith spent several years in Litchfield, Ct., near Mr. Goldsmith's older relatives and family business interests in New York City, before relocating to Tallahassee, to be near daughter Catharine. Upon returning to Raleigh, he enjoyed the closeness of family, reunions with old friends including Cy and Carolyn King, and discovered a Raleigh music and dining scene that had not existed during his previous stay here.
Read Richard Goldsmith's Obituary and Guestbook on www.mcdougald.com.
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