Sensabaugh, George, 1906-2002.

2/25/02

John Sanford, Stanford News Service (650) 736-2151; e-mail: jsanford@stanford.edu

George Sensabaugh, longtime English professor, dead at 95

George Sensabaugh, a professor of English who served as a mentor for dozens of junior faculty and graduate students during his 36-year career at Stanford, died Feb. 19 at Stanford Hospital of complications from pneumonia. He was 95.

"He was really a wonderful and gentle person, a fantastic raconteur and a very wide-ranging and learned scholar," said English Professor Martin Evans, who came to Stanford in 1963. "His books are still very widely read and influential."

Born July 15, 1906, in the small town of Dublin, Texas, Sensabaugh grew up in San Diego and Oklahoma City before moving to Nashville, Tenn., where he earned a bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University in 1928. He earned master's and doctoral degrees from the University of North Carolina in 1930 and 1934, respectively.

Sensabaugh wrote his dissertation on the 17th-century dramatist John Ford, later transforming it into his first book, The Tragic Muse of John Ford (1944). Throughout his life, Sensabaugh maintained a constant interest in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, but he became best known as a Milton scholar. In That Grand Whig, Milton (1952), Sensabaugh examines the 17th-century writer and poet's political tracts. He went on to write Milton in Early America (1964). He was the co-author of Purposeful Prose (1951) with an English Department colleague, the late Virgil K. Whitaker, and an editor of and contributor to The Study of English in California Schools (1952). In addition, he wrote dozens of articles and reviews.

Before coming to Stanford in 1935, Sensabaugh taught briefly at the University of North Carolina. He served as a visiting professor at the University of Texas, the University of California-Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology. He also taught at the Stanford overseas program in Florence, Italy, during the fall and winter of 1965-66, and again shortly after his official retirement in 1971. But he continued to work as an educator in the late 1970s and early 1980s, teaching at the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning at the University of San Francisco.

Outside of his academic work, Sensabaugh enjoyed gardening and was active with the Associates of the Stanford University Libraries. His wife of 63 years, Elizabeth, is still a member of the organization.

Evans described Sensabaugh as a "generous mentor. He was immensely kind to me. He gave me opportunities that were, in those days, rather unusual for an assistant professor, in terms of teaching graduate seminars and so forth."

Larry Ryan, the Joseph S. Atha Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, recalled that 50 years ago he got a letter in the mail informing him that an instructorship was open to him at Stanford. The letter was signed by Sensabaugh.

When Ryan and his family first arrived at Stanford, the Sensabaughs were among the first people to greet them. "We've been close ever since," Ryan said.

Sensabaugh received several fellowships and grants, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (1944-45) and fellowships at the Henry E. Huntington Library during the summer of 1942 and the 1950-51 academic year. He also served as president of the Milton Society of America and of the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast.

Sensabaugh also is survived by sons George F. Sensabaugh Jr., a resident of Oakland and professor of forensic science at the University of California-Berkeley, and David A. Sensabaugh, a resident of New Haven, Conn., and senior curator of Asian art at Yale, as well as by two grandchildren.

No date has been set for services, which are planned for Memorial Church. Contributions in Sensabaugh's memory may be made to the Stanford University Libraries and sent to: Library Development, Cecil H. Green Library, Suite 102, Stanford, CA 94305-6004.