Raymond P. Benoit, Ph.D.: 1936-2025

03/03/2025

Raymond P. Benoit, Ph.D., professor emeritus in English, died Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. He was 88.

Benoit was a long-time professor at Saint Louis University. He began his teaching career at SLU in 1965 and retired from the University in 2014.

Benoit was born on April 17, 1936, in Washington state. He earned his undergraduate degree in English from Gonzaga University in 1959. He then earned his doctorate degree in English at the  University of Oregon in 1965. His dissertation was titled, “English and American Romanticism: A Definition.”

While at Gonzaga he began his teaching career by serving as a graduate assistant. He was an instructor at the University of Oregon and joined the SLU faculty in 1965 as an assistant professor.

Benoit was promoted to associate professor in 1968 and full professor in 1971. 

A former NDEA and Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Benoit had been a Fulbright Professor of American Literature in Germany and was Chairman of the Department of English at Saint Louis University throughout the 1970s. His research interests include 19th-century British & American Romantic literature, Myth and Symbolism, and American Literature.

In 1973, his book, Single Nature's Double Name: The Collectedness of the Conflicting in British and American Romanticism was published. Throughout his lengthy career, he also published a number of articles. 

A funeral Mass will be celebrated Friday, March 7, at 10 a.m. at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, in West Seattle, WA.