Stephen C. Brennan

Stephen C. Brennan, retired university professor, died unexpectedly of an apparent heart attack in his sleep at home in Kenner on May 30. Medics were unable to revive him. He was 70 years old and under doctors’ care for arthritis and neuropathy, but he remained active as a golfer and a scholar. From 1988 to 2012, Steve was an English professor at LSU in Shreveport, and before that at Texas A&M (four years) and Drexel University in Philadelphia (three years). He also taught at Tulane University for two one-year appointments after earning his PhD there in 1979, studying under Donald Pizer, a leading scholar, on the American novelist Theodore Dreiser. Steve went far beyond the usual research expectation for teaching faculty, and was continuing during his retirement. His major publication was Theodore Dreiser: A Documentary Volume for the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 368. He also published numerous articles and several smaller volumes, besides making dozens of presentations at conferences. From 1999 to the present he was co-editor of the literary journal Dreiser Studies and its successor Studies in American Naturalism. While he loved scholarship, he also loved sports. An avid golfer from a young age, he won several amateur tournaments and at least one college-level competition while an undergraduate at Drake University in Iowa, where he also played college basketball. During the Vietnam War he was drafted and trained at Officers Candidate School, but the war ended before he would have been sent overseas. On a personal level Steve was a loving husband, father, and grandfather. He enjoyed life, joked a lot, sometimes with on-the-spot creative puns, and enjoyed intelligent discussions of current events and politics. A secular humanist and member of NOSHA, he loved being back in New Orleans where he could hear visiting speakers from time to time, often after having read their works and seen them on TV. Steve is survived by his wife Adelaide (“Del”). His daughter Jennifer Waterman lives in Des Moines, Iowa with her husband Jeff and their teenage children Brennan and Laurel Waterman. Jenny’s family and Steve talked weekly on Skype, and he looked forward to the long visits online as well as yearly visits in person. Also, Steve grew close to his step-children Ed McGinnis, Marcia McGinnis, and Joni Clark, as well as their children. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him well and loved him. Organ donations have been followed by cremation , but those who want to gather for a celebration of his life and share memories will be able to do so at a later date when his daughter and her children can attend, probably within a month.

Tributes

Stephen C. Brennan

April 21, 1946 - May 30, 2016