Philadelphia’s 89-year-old Donald Rackin, a former professor of English at Temple University, scholar of Victorian literature and award-winning author, died Wednesday, November 23, at his home in Roxborough from Parkinson’s disease. I was.
Professor Rakin taught English Literature classes at Temple University for 33 years and was known by students, fellow professors and staff for his innovative ideas, affectionate personality and dedication to his studies. Many students credited him with his success after college, and his colleagues called him a “professional father,” a “model advisor,” and a “very supportive mentor.”
Always looking for ways to improve the educational experience for both students and teachers, he founded and directs the Center for Educational Improvement and Senior Mentoring Services at Temple. Professor Rackin told The New York Times in 1991, referring to Senior Mentoring Services, “We pair them up and leave them alone.”
“Everyone’s not as good as they look and have the ‘impersonation syndrome’ where they don’t want anyone to know their secrets,” he said of the young professor. “The great thing about this is that mentors are no longer professors and won’t vote for you on tenure, salary, or promotions.”
He served on the Executive Committee of the Temple University Professionals Association, and union colleagues called him “a zealous defender of Temple and other faculties”. A friend described Professor Rackin as “a successful scholar who knows how to have fun and who puts people above all else.”
Professor Luckin wrote poetry and short stories throughout his life. He has published and reviewed articles and essays on Victorian literature and other topics, is an expert on British author Lewis Carroll, and has been published in many publications, including The Temple’s Undergraduate Herald and the journal of the American College Professors Association, The Academy. Edited publication.
He has written books on Carroll’s work, including one from 1991. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass: Nonsense, Meaning, Meaning, In 1967 he won the Modern Language Society’s William Riley Parker Award for his essay “Alice’s Journey to the End of the Night”. He has also lectured on Carroll and other English literature and appeared on radio and television programs in England, Israel, and elsewhere around the world.
In 1982, Marshall Ledger of the University of Pennsylvania’s Pennsylvania Gazette said: Lewis Carroll “Festival” In The Inquirer, Professor Rackin’s essay on the book states, “It’s almost unique in its broad view of Carroll. He doesn’t demean or ignore comedy, but Carroll’s disenchanted world and universe.” We see it as an important part of order.”
Professor Rackin serves on the board of the North American Lewis Carroll Society, whose members said in a tribute:
Born February 24, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey, Donald Rackin graduated from West Side High School, spent three years at New York University, and graduated from Rutgers University in 1954 with a BA in English. He got his master’s degree in English. He received his doctorate from Columbia University in 1955, taught at Auburn University for several years, and received his doctorate in English from the University of Illinois in 1964.
He moved to Philadelphia in 1962, taught at the Temple, and retired in 1995.
Professor Rackin met Phyllis Finkelstein in Bradley Beach, New Jersey and was impressed by his interest in books, art and music. They married in 1954, had daughters Rebecca and Ethel, and lived in West Philadelphia, Germantown, and Roxburgh.
He volunteered for the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against the Advent of Hunger and Elderly Programs, supported civil rights and women’s rights, and opposed nuclear proliferation and war. To do so, he told The Inquirer:
After retiring, he took a Yiddish course and loved the poem “God’s Grandeur” by Gerald Manley Hopkins and the song “Morning Has Broken” by Cat Stevens. “Don was brilliant and resourceful,” said his family in their tribute. “But those who knew him valued his warm heart and generosity above all else.”
He was good at carpentry, cooking, painting, photography, and was the best Jitterbug dancer in his high school class. He enjoyed fishing and sailing, and spent idyllic summers on the Prince of Canada’s Edward Island.
“He was smart and creative,” said his wife. “He had a warmth and goodness that radiated from him that people could feel.”
In addition to his wife and daughters, Professor Luckin is left with grandchildren and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.
A celebration of his life will be held on Sunday, April 23 at 1:00 pm at the Laurel Hill Funeral Home, 225 Belmont Avenue, Burra Sinwyd, Pennsylvania, 19004.
Donations may be made in his name to the Parkinson Foundation, 200 SE 1st St., Suite 800, Miami, FL 33131, and Greater Philadelphia Union Hunger, 123 Chestnut Street, Suite 401, Philadelphia, PA 19106. increase.
