Keith Botsford (1928–2018)

Keith Botsford. professor in the Languages and Literature Department, died Aug. 19, 2018, in London. He was 90. Though perhaps best known as novelist Saul Bellow’s “sidekick” (a title Botsford said he found “perfectly honorable”), Botsford was described by the New York Times as a “globe-trot- ting, multilingual, and multifaceted man of letters.” He first met Bellow at a cocktail party at Bard when both were on the faculty in the early 1950s, and they remained close friends and collaborators to the end.

Botsford was born in Brussels to an American father and an Italian mother. He started college at Yale but enlisted in the Army and earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa. He returned to Yale for a master’s in French literature, went on to study composition at the Manhattan School of Music, Japanese at Columbia University, and law at the University of Strasbourg in France and at Holborn College in London. In addition to his wide-ranging writing, Botsford was an editor, translator, teacher, and composer of chamber and choral music. He is survived by his children, Aubrey, Clarissa, Joshua, Flora, Gianni, Matthew, Polly, and Thomas.

Post Date: 08-19-2018