William Wistar Comfort Explained

William Wistar Comfort (1874 – December 24, 1955) was president of Haverford College.

Life

Comfort was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania and raised a Quaker. He graduated from Haverford College in 1894 and received a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1902 with the dissertation "The Development of the Character Types in the French Chansons de Geste". Later he translated from Old French four 12th-century Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes (Modern Library, 1914) and the 13th-century Queste del Saint Graal (Quest of the Holy Grail). He was a polymath, with other written works on such topics as Quakerism, children's literature, and the poet William Cowper.

Comfort served as President of Haverford College for 23 years, from 1917 to 1940, and was succeeded by journalist Felix Morley.^[1]

He continued teaching until 1953, and died at his home on campus in 1955. He was survived by his wife of 53 years, the former Mary Foles, five children,^{[2] [3]} and several grandchildren including a mathematician named after him .^{[4] [5]} His papers are held at Haverford.^[6]

Notes and References

1. (3 April 1940). Felix Morley Named Head of Haverford, The New York Times
2. (25 December 1955). William Comfort, Educator, 81, Dies, The New York Times
3. (11 May 1965). Mrs. William Comfort, The New York Times (his widow died in 1965.)
4. http://at.yorku.ca/t/o/p/c/28.htm An interview with W. Wistar Comfort
5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/topology-and-its-applications/vol/259 William Wistar Comfort (1933-2016): In Memoriam
6. Web site: William Wistar Comfort Papers 1867-1941. Haverford College. 17 January 2016.