Show-Me State Times

Raymond P. Benoit, Ph.D., a professor emeritus of English, passed away on January 24, 2025, at the age of 88. He was a long-serving faculty member at Saint Louis University (SLU), where he began teaching in 1965 and retired in 2014.

Benoit was born on April 17, 1936, in Washington state. He completed his undergraduate studies in English at Gonzaga University in 1959 and went on to earn a doctorate degree from the University of Oregon in 1965. His dissertation was titled "English and American Romanticism: A Definition."

He started his teaching career as a graduate assistant at Gonzaga and served as an instructor at the University of Oregon before joining SLU's faculty as an assistant professor in 1965. Benoit advanced to associate professor by 1968 and became a full professor in 1971.

Throughout his career, Benoit was recognized for his academic contributions. He was both an NDEA and Woodrow Wilson Fellow and served as a Fulbright Professor of American Literature in Germany. Additionally, he chaired the Department of English at SLU during the 1970s.

His research interests focused on areas such as 19th-century British & American Romantic literature, Myth and Symbolism, and American Literature. In 1973, he published "Single Nature's Double Name: The Collectedness of the Conflicting in British and American Romanticism," alongside numerous articles throughout his career.