Donald (Don) Glenn Marshall

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Donald (Don) Glenn Marshall, early in the morning of June 1st in Fullerton, CA, following a long battle with cancer.

Don was born in Long Beach, CA, in 1943, to Albert Louis Marshall Jr. and Margaret Corinne (Morrison) Marshall. He was a proud 4th generation native Californian. It is easy to imagine that he was born with a book in his hands — from early on, he was immersed in reading, later in his life with a pen and ruler ready for making notes in margins. He took great joy in learning, and in sharing his knowledge with others. He and his older sister, April, grew up in South Gate, where Don would get his first subscription to the Great Books of the Western World, and would later serve as the editor of his High School newspaper.

Don had a long and distinguished academic career. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1965 and completed his Ph.D. in 1971 at Yale on Blank Verse. From there he held faculty positions at UCLA (1969–1975), Iowa (1975–1990, as Director of the Liberal Arts Honors Program from 1981–1986), UIC (1990–2003, as English department head from 1990–2000), and Pepperdine (2003–2011, as the Fletcher Jones Chair of Great Books). Beyond his courses, publications and lectures, he loved academic visits to universities, collaborators, and great scholars. His visits with his academic hero, Hans-Georg Gadamer, both in Germany and Iowa, were the source of many stories. Thanks to his travels and studies, he translated works from French and German and could read Italian, Greek, and Latin. At Pepperdine he rekindled his love for Great Books, and received a Howard A. White teaching award for his dedication to student learning. He enjoyed attending numerous reading groups on Zoom after his retirement in 2011.

Don was always happiest when he had an upcoming event — an opera, play, exhibit, or some other opportunity to experience the arts firsthand. He was deeply involved in a variety of foundations: he served for 15 years on the board of the Poetry Foundation, including a term as President when it was still the Modern Poetry Association, and a term as Chair of the Board when they built and opened their current headquarters; he served on the boards of the Illinois Humanities Council and Chicago Humanities Festival; and he was served most recently on the board of the Downey Symphonic Society, including four years as president, from 2017–2020.

He will be remembered as an intellectual giant and piercingly honest devotee to inquiry, and also as a warm, loving, and devoted husband, father, and grandfather, a proud patron of the arts and humanities, and a life-long Dodgers fan (and mid-life Cubs fan).

Don is survived by his husband and partner of 15 years, Leonard Medina; two children, Stephanie Deborah Marshall (born 1981) and Zachary Louis Marshall (born 1983) from his first marriage to Kathleen Bonann; and one grandchild, Juliano Blaise (JB) Sierra (born 2005).