Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Thursday, September 14, 2006 at 06:03:14 :
San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, April 19, 2002
A27
John Paterson
by Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer
John Paterson, whose infectious love for novels earned the admiration of his English students at the University of California at Berkeley, died after a long illness on March 29 at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae. He was 78.
Professor Paterson, who lived in Greenbrae, concentrated on the Edwardian period but encouraged his students to study modern novelists, including Jack Kerouac.
He was born in Scotland, and he grew up in Montreal, where he graduated from McGill University in 1944. After earning his doctorate at the University of Michigan, he taught briefly at Princeton University before joining the faculty at UC Berkeley in 1956.
During the 1970s, Professor Paterson served as the school's faculty- sponsored ombudsman, helping students with problems in their academic lives. He also served on the board of the Berkeley chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
His 1974 book, "The Novel as Faith: The Gospel According to James, Hardy, Conrad, Joyce, Lawrence and Virginia Woolf," drew praise from critics. He retired from his post at Berkeley in 1985, becoming a professor emeritus. He continued to publish well into the 1990s. Besides reading and writing, his favorite hobby was playing golf.
Professor Paterson is survived by his wife, Susanna Paterson of Greenbrae; a son, Andrew of Ellicot City, Md.; five daughters, Annan Paterson of Novato, Mary Cheadle of Seattle, Susannah Saunders of San Anselmo, and Caithleen Paterson Zilrous and Nora Messinger, both of Putnam Valley, N.Y.; and 15 grandchildren. Also surviving are his 100-year-old mother, Margaret, of Hamilton, Ontario; a brother, Archie of Fort Worth, Texas; and sisters Margaret Patterson and Sheila Wigmore, both of Hamilton, Ontario.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. John's Episcopal Church, 14 Lagunitas Road, Ross.
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