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The Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religion at the University of Mary Washington is saddened to announce the passing of Robert F. Boughner on August 30, at the age of 71.

Bob did his undergraduate studies in Classics at Duke, and his M.A. and Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins. His favorite author to teach was Catullus. He taught for several years at University of Maryland and worked as a Humanities administrator at the NEH before joining the Mary Washington faculty in 1983. He was a highly popular and engaging lecturer, and taught a wide range of courses in Classical Civilization, Latin, and Greek.

Bob served as chair of the Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religion from 1990 to 1996, when he left to become Dean of the American College in Athens. He returned to the United States as Chair of the Department of Humanities at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, from which he recently retired, moving to Takoma Park, MD. We learned of his death from a friend and former student who relayed to us that it was unexpected. Bob specified that he wanted no memorial or service, but we remember him with great fondness in CPR.

Former Executive Director Adam Blistein has asked us to add these remarks to the notice from Mary Washington

I was very sorry to hear this news about Bob and wanted to mention his important service to the Society. In the roughly 20 years he spent at the University of the Sciences, he was an active member of the local classics community, which is how I met him when I opened the Society's offices at the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. He was also an extremely helpful member of the Development Committee from 2008 to 2011, which were some of the busiest years of the Gateway Campaign for Classics in the 21st Century. In particular, although it had been many years since he had worked at the NEH, he provided valuable advice about the management of the challenge grant from the Endowment that was the cornerstone of the Campaign. Throughout the Campaign he was a wise and encouraging voice.

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(Photo: "Candle" by Shawn Carpenter, licensed under CC BY 2.0)