Contact:
Emily Simon
617.496.7208
Distinguished Harvard Classicist Zeph Stewart Dies at 86
Cambridge, Mass. - December 3, 2007 - The distinguished American classicist Zeph Stewart, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Emeritus, at Harvard University, died Dec. 1 of natural causes at his home in Watertown, Mass. He was 86.
Stewart was associated with Harvard for 60 years, beginning with his arrival as a graduate student in classics in 1947. Over the course of his career at Harvard he served as a junior fellow of the Society of Fellows; master of Lowell House; professor of Greek and Latin; chairman of the Department of the Classics; trustee of the Loeb Classical Library; director of Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C.; and a trustee of the Episcopal Chaplaincy at Harvard.
In addition he held offices including the presidency of both the national association of his profession, the American Philological Association, and the regional organization known as Teachers of Classics in New England.
Zeph Stewart was born Jan. 1, 1921, in Jackson, Mich., the son of a prominent political family and younger brother of Potter Stewart, who later became a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Like his brother before him, Zeph Stewart attended the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn., graduating in 1939. In later life, he served as a trustee of the school and received the 1964 Alumni Award. After Hotchkiss he went on to Yale University, from which he graduated with highest honors in classics in December 1942.
In January 1943, Stewart entered the army, having been recruited for his linguistic skills by Edwin O. Reischauer to learn Japanese. He did two stints of service, first working like many classicists and other linguists of the period in the area of military intelligence. During these years (1943-47), spent initially in Washington, D.C., and then in London and Paris, he rose from private to captain. He was recalled for active duty during the Korean War (1951-53) as part of a NATO delegation working on diplomatic liaison, again in London and Paris.
In 1953 Stewart joined the faculty of Harvard's Department of the Classics as assistant professor of Greek and Latin, and began to pursue his research and publishing work in Latin literature and manuscript studies. His early endeavors were centered on some of the major Latin authors, such as Virgil, Horace, and Plautus, and he dealt also with paleographical issues.
Stewart had a lifelong interest in Greek philosophy and religion, particularly the transition to Christianity. He edited several volumes in these areas, most notably the Essays on Religion and the Ancient World of Arthur Darby Nock (Oxford, 1972).
In all of the many appointments he held at Harvard, he came into office and immediately set about improving the intellectual, communal, and fiscal aspects of the institution in question. He did so because he cared about the field of classics, about libraries, about teaching and research, and about the well-being of colleagues and students at all levels.
Professor Jeffrey Henderson of Boston University, the present general editor of the Loeb Classical Library, fondly remembers Stewart as "teacher, mentor, and true friend for nearly 40 years." He cites the crucial role his mentor played, as executive trustee for more than a quarter-century, in helping to develop a renewal plan in the 1970s to put the Loeb Library on a sound financial footing.
"Indispensable," Henderson says, "were Zeph's vision and respect for what the Library should be, his keen judgment about the right projects and the right scholars to tackle each one, and his matchless tact and skill at recruiting potential authors, or letting them down gently when they were not right for the job."
Professor Richard Thomas of Harvard's classics department, who succeeded Stewart as executive trustee of the Library, points to the direct and impressive result of this reordering and revitalization - namely, the establishment of the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, which currently provides considerable financial assistance for the research of classicists worldwide.
As master of Lowell House, Stewart greatly emphasized the importance of community. Having witnessed the effects of the Vietnam War on student life, he worked hard to help the House continue its humane mission in the face of the fundamental changes that were occurring in those years. He also welcomed the advent of women into the House. He endeavored to modernize House rules and regulations, and was particularly successful in integrating Harvard faculty into the life of the House.
Stewart became renowned for his administrative skills and financial expertise. Over the years he held eight different appointments in offices and on committees of the American Philological Association.
Adam Blistein, the current executive director of the APA, vividly recalls the immediate and dramatic effect of Stewart's impact as financial trustee of the Association. Professor Ward Briggs of the University of South Carolina, a financial trustee of the APA, credits him with radical changes that helped restore the Association's finances to robust health.
"Anything the APA accomplishes in the way of financial awards to teachers or outreach or fundraising campaigns would be unlikely without Zeph having exercised his sound judgment, wise counsel, and quietly patient efforts," Briggs says.
Stewart served as president of the APA in 1983; as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which he served as vice president from 1979 to 1982; as visiting professor at Hamilton College; and as visiting professor at the University of Colorado. In 2000 he received the Barlow-Beach Award of the Classical Association of New England "for exceptional service to the Classics in New England."
He is survived by his wife, Diana, with whom he offered cherished hospitality to successive generations of scholars and students; by two daughters, Sarah and Mary; by a son, Christopher; and by two grandchildren.
###
NOTE TO EDITORS: A high-resolution image of Zeph Stewart is available electronically. Please contact Emily T. Simon to request this image.